Life of a Pureblood
by morganna12
Summary: What if Hermione was a Pureblood, sorted into Slytherin? If her friends were Draco Malfoy & Pansy Parkinson and her enemies were Harry Potter & Ron Weasley? What if her parents were Death Eaters? How much would change? Maybe a series, this is Book 1.
1. Ten Galleons

Chapter One

Biting her lip to suppress her excitement, Hermione Granger stepped into the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the first time. She walked at the front of the group of eleven-year-olds and as her parents taught her, she kept her facial expression completely uninterested, so others would believe she had seen rooms that far surpassed this one in size and decoration. At the front of the hall, Hermione instantly spotted the old headmaster, his blue eyes sparkling as he took in the new students. Hermione had been warned many times that he was a complete fool and was to be avoided as much as possible.

The first years came to a stop near the staff table. Hermione ignored the women, McGonagall, as she began to speak and instead examined the other students. She smirked at the twitching boy with a toad in his chubby hand, scowled as a red-headed boy and his friend in glasses noticed her scrutiny and almost couldn't keep her eyes off of a light-haired boy talking to his two rather large friends. When that got boring, she started predicting what houses her classmates would be in. There wasn't a doubt in Hermione's mind that toad-boy would be in Hufflepuff. The red-head would be in Gryffindor, she realized, once she saw three more red-haired boys already seated there. His friend was a bit more challenging. He didn't look particularly smart, or brave, or cunning, yet Hufflepuff didn't seem to fit either. Ravenclaw for the twin girls, she decided, and Slytherin for the light-haired boy and his friends.

Finally, her name was called. She strolled purposefully forward; her face still emotionless, and sat on the wooden stool. The second the Sorting Hat touched her head, she heard its voice, _"Not a difficult decision,"_ before calling out, "Slytherin!"

Unsurprised, Hermione stood back up, noticing the two pairs of eyes following her as she glided confidently towards the clapping table. One pair belonged to a boy named Harry Potter, who was listening intently as his new friend, Ron Weasley, told him all of the evils of people in Slytherin. The other set of eyes were Draco Malfoy's, and he watched behind a mask of disinterest as the girl he had never seen before sat down at what would soon be his table as well.

Hermione accepted the greetings of her new house-mates with a small smile before watching the Sorting continue, wondering how her predictions would fare. It wasn't long before the light-haired boy was up at the stool. The hat cried out "Slytherin" just as quickly as it had for her. Knowing that if she caught his eye, her interest would be revealed, Hermione glanced away as he walked over. She had sat across from one of his friends; who had introduced himself as Vincent Crabbe, so it wasn't a shock when Draco Malfoy sat next to Vincent and the other friend, Gregory Goyle. Not able to tell if Draco was still staring at her, Hermione kept her eyes on the Sorting until a new voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey Draco. Hi Vincent, Greg," This latest addition to the table was the black-haired girl named Pansy Parkinson who had just been sorted. Once she was seated next to Hermione, Pansy turned to face her.

"Who _are_ you," she asked, her tone a mix of curiosity and unfriendliness. Hermione pulled her eyes away from the Sorting of Harry Potter, the boy in glasses. She hadn't realized when she saw him earlier that he was The Boy Who Lived. He was quite unimpressive looking, for having defeated the Dark Lord as a baby.

"My name is Hermione Granger," she replied, trying to see where Harry was Sorted to.

"Well, let me tell you something right now, _Hermione Granger_," Pansy started, smirking, "In Slytherin, we _all_ know each other. Our parents all know each other, our grandparents all know each other and yet none of us here recognize _you_. Nor does your last name sound familiar. Explain that, now."

Hermione let out a mocking laugh, "Not that it's any of your business, but my whole family has been in Slytherin for generations, probably much longer than _your_ family. And really, my _name_ isn't familiar? I hardly think that your diminutive-sized brain has enough space to keep track of every name you've ever heard. Besides, unless you can recall memories from ten years ago, you probably _wouldn't_ remember that my family moved out to the countryside after the Dark Lord disappeared because the Ministry was trying to gather enough information to prove my parents' involvement with Him. _You_ wouldn't remember that. But I'm sure your parents would."

All was silent at their end of the table for a moment, and although the talking continued at the rest of the table, Hermione was sure more people had heard her than she had meant to. Pansy shook off her surprise when another person joined their table.

"Hey everyone. Oh wait, who's this?" An olive-skinned boy sat down on Hermione's other side.

"Blaise, this is Hermione Granger," Draco started, "If you didn't already realize, Hermione, I'm Draco Malfoy. This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The rude one's Pansy--don't worry, you'll get used to her, and this here is Blaise Zabini."

"Quite a speech I heard on my way over here," Blaise told them, before staring at Hermione, "Granger, huh? I think my parents have talked about your father before. Said that he was lucky to stay out of Azkaban," Hermione nodded in agreement, "Apparently your house _mysteriously_ burned to the ground before Ministry officials could get inside?"

"That sounds about right," Hermione replied, smiling.

Draco nodded briskly, "I remember that. They dug through the rubble for years. And when they finally realized there was nothing to find, my father couldn't stop talking about it. He said that your family was too smart to leave anything to chance and that the Ministry should have given up ages ago."

"I couldn't agree with _that_ more," Hermione told them, "If they hadn't spent almost six years searching, we would have moved back sooner. Then you wouldn't have been questioning whether or not I belonged here, Pansy," Hermione finished, in an overly sweet voice.

"In Pansy's defense," Blaise started, casting a look at his seething friend, "her parents weren't too deeply _involved_," Hermione glanced over her shoulder, then shook her head imperceptibly, but it was enough to alert Blaise that he probably shouldn't expand on that thought, "if you know what I mean." He finished quickly.

"Look," Draco pointed up at the Sorting, also having noticed Hermione's warning, "Weasley's up. Ten Galleons says that the Hat tells him he's too dim-witted to be a wizard and that his acceptance to Hogwarts was all a big mistake."

Hermione groaned good-naturedly, "Tell me that's not a serious bet."

"I accept," Blaise cut in, "He'll be in Gryffindor just like the rest of his blood traitor family."

"I'm going to have to disagree," Pansy told him, "I'll say he's in Hufflepuff."

"Last chance, Hermione," Draco warned, smirking.

"Fine, fine," she replied, "I'm with Blaise. He'll go to Gryffindor."

"Alright, so. If he's Gryffindor, ten Galleons to both Hermione and Blaise, if he's in Hufflepuff ten to Pansy and if--"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Yes," Blaise cheered, almost inaudible over the applause from the Gryffindor table, and lifted his hand for a celebratory high-five with Hermione.

"Pay up," Hermione ordered, grinning. She and Blaise exchanged grins, as Draco and Pansy counted out their ten galleons. As she waited, Hermione glanced over to see where Harry Potter had been sorted.

"Ah, Potter's in Gryffindor too," Draco stated, and Hermione spun back around to face him. He dropped the coins into her hand, "I can only imagine how obnoxious him and Weasley will be once they meet."

"Looks like they already have. They are talking to each other, Draco," Pansy pointed out, mockingly, also giving Hermione and Blaise their money. Draco shrugged, making the rest of them laugh.

Looking up, Hermione saw that the Headmaster had begun to speak, but it didn't seem like anyone at the Slytherin table cared too much.

"I wonder how many classes we'll have with the Gryffindors," Blaise commented, "Hopefully not too many."

"You have no idea how much I hope we have Potions with them," Draco smirked, "Professor Snape yelling at them all class would definitely be a highlight of my day."

Suddenly food started appearing on all of the serving plates. Vincent and Greg, who had been silent up until then, both mumbled, "Yum," before piling enough food on their plates to last for days. Rolling her eyes, Hermione grabbed a couple of chicken wings and filled her goblet up with water, before enjoying her first dinner at Hogwarts with her new friends.

* * *

After dinner, Hermione walked with Draco, Blaise and Pansy to the Slytherin dorms, being led by one of their prefects. Greg and Vincent were back in the Great Hall, filling their pockets with as much food as they could. How they were going to find their way to the dorms, Hermione had no idea.

"Alright," the prefect said, as they came to a stop in the dungeons, "the password is '_putus of cruor,' _and we change passwords every week on Friday. Just find a prefect to learn the new password. Anyways. _Putus of cruor._" They followed the prefect through a tunnel, down a set of stairs and into the dimly lit common room. The room was filled with dark green and black couches and armchairs, and one large fireplace. Near the corner, there were dark wooden tables and chairs for studying, "Girls dorms are down those stairs and to the left, boys the same to the right." With that, the prefect strolled down another set of stairs.

"Come on, Hermione," Pansy called, grabbing Hermione's wrist and pulling her down the stairs. Hermione turned back quickly to wave at Blaise and Draco.

Their dormitory was long and with a few windows that were charmed to mirror the weather they would have seen if they weren't underground. Hermione's trunk was at the far corner, at the foot of the last bed, so Pansy pulled her own trunk over to the bed next to hers, moving away the trunk that was already there. Going over to her trunk, Hermione lifted open the top and pulled out a tank top and a pair of pajama bottoms.

Once she was changed, she sat at the edge of her bed, as Pansy was doing the same on her bed.

"So," Pansy whispered, a smirk on her face, "What do you think of Blaise and Draco?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** A few things to say about this chapter. Of course, I don't own anything. But I just wanted to make sure it was known: I realize that Blaise should have been sorted _after_ Ron, but I needed him to be sorted first, haha. It's a short chapter, but I just wanted to get it posted.

_putus of cruor_: Latin for pure of blood. At least, that's what the online translation was. :D


	2. Enough Entertainment

Chapter Two

"Running late?" A voice asked, causing Hermione's surprised jump. She spun around to face the speaker.

"Oh, hey Blaise," she said, smiling, "Yeah, no one woke me up. What's your excuse?"

Blaise shrugged, his dark eyes watching in amusement as Hermione stuffed her books into a bag that obviously wouldn't fit them all, "You sure that bag's big enough?"

"That doesn't answer my question," Hermione noted, playfully.

"Yes well, you didn't answer mine."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione replied, "No, it's not big enough. _Engorgio_," Hermione threw in the last couple of books, before turning to smirk triumphantly at Blaise, "Now it is. Your turn."

"I like my sleep," Blaise explained, "And it doesn't take long for me to get ready."

"Congratulations on the world's vaguest answer," she muttered, causing a grin from Blaise.

"Come now, sulk later," he ordered, "We have to get down to breakfast!"

* * *

"Double potions with the Gryffindors," Draco said, as he walked into the dungeon with Hermione, Blaise and Pansy, "My birthday has come early."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione dropped into a chair next to Blaise and Pansy. Draco sat on Pansy's other side.

"20 Galleons says Professor Snape takes off at least 15 points from them," Blaise grinned, "What do you say?"

"I'd bet 20 Galleons that Professor Snape takes 15 off from just Potter alone," Draco predicted, "Maybe some from Weasley too."

"Pansy, Hermione, you getting in on this one?" Blaise asked, "Easy money if you bet with me."

"I'm with Draco," Hermione answered, absentmindedly, as she pulled her Potions book out of her bag, "At least 15 points off all from Potter or Weasley."

"Ha, well I'll say at least 15 points off from Potter, plus more points off from anyone he can get to," Pansy smirked, "And I'm completely going to win this time."

Draco raised his eyebrows, "Are you? Because I'm not so sure."

"Just wait," she suggested, "We'll see who's laughing when this class is over."

"Somehow I think _we'll_ be the ones laughing," Blaise muttered.

Suddenly, the door of the classroom swung open, and with two long strides, Professor Snape was standing at the front of the room.

'Welcome to Potions class," he started, coldly, surveying the students. His eyes lingered on Potter, and his glare intensified. He looked towards the Slytherins, with a friendlier look. Friendly for Snape anyways, "Now, you will begin by reading the first chapter of your book…Ah," he stopped in front of Potter's desk, "Mr. Potter. Apparently you weren't prepared enough to get your book out of your bag _before _this lesson started like the rest of your classmates?" As he walked back to the board, Professor Snape called out, "Five points from Gryffindor for being unprepared. Maybe next time your incompetence won't affect the rest of your house."

"But, Professor--," Potter started, but was cut off by Professor Snape almost immediately,

"Five more points for talking out of turn. Now, Mr. Potter, we can certainty go for more points, if that's what you want, or we could continue class."

Potter remained silent. Hermione held back a grin, and glanced over to see that Draco and Blaise were both laughing silently.

"Good, now that _Mr. Potter_ is ready, we can begin class. You have the first 20 minutes to read Chapter One. Then I will tell you where everything is and you can start your first potion. Begin."

About five minutes into the reading time, Blaise poked her arm with a piece of folded parchment. When Professor Snape wasn't looking, Hermione unfolded it and read quickly,

_Hermione,_

_Five more points and we win the bet._

_D._

Smiling slightly, Hermione replied,

_Don't get cocky. He could still take points off of someone else, and then Pansy would win._

She flicked the parchment at him, then went back to her reading.

* * *

"Say it," Pansy ordered as they walked to their next class, "Right now."

"Pansy," Draco complained, "Don't make me say--"

"If you don't say it right now, I'll tell everyone that you sle--"

"Pansy, you are by far the best better I have ever met. I quake in fear whenever I'm forced to bet against you."

Pansy smiled sweetly, "Why thank you, Draco. Now it's your turn, Blaise."

"Pans, I never said you couldn't bet," Blaise assured, "I only said that we'd laugh at you when you lost."

Hermione stifled a laugh as Pansy fixed him with a withering stare, her hands on her hips.

Blaise sighed childishly, "Pansy, you're the best better I've ever met. Blah, blah, quake in fear like a prick, blah, blah. You know, I think you might have just gotten lucky."

"Bad move," Hermione told him, as Pansy gave him a whack on the arm. Blaise made a big show of rubbing his arm, "Wow, Pans," he started sarcastically, "That hurt so much."

Rolling her eyes, Pansy turned next to Hermione, "I think it's your turn now."

"Pansy, I, unlike these two morons, never said anything about your betting."

"Fine then," Pansy grinned, "I want my money by lunch," and she stalked into the Charms classroom.

Hermione glanced back, and saw Blaise still holding his arm,

"Merlin, Blaise," Draco mocked, "Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing? Or do you think you can handle the pain?"

"Oh, piss off," he shot back, "at least I didn't repeat Pansy's little statement like a pansy."

"Oh stop arguing. You _both_ lost," Hermione grabbed them both by their sleeves and pulled them into the classroom.

* * *

"I'm sorry if I keep bringing this up," Blaise started, "But did you _see _Potter's face when Snape took off 30 points because of him?"

Hermione smirked at Blaise's rant; the fourth time she'd heard it, by the way, but let him continue.

"And Weasley? Did you see how bright his face got when his potion almost exploded? Twenty more points off. Wow, I don't know for sure, but I think it's a record. Gryffindor already has _negative_ points. Oh, and remember when Longbottom…"

"Spilled his cauldron all over the floor?" Hermione, Pansy and Draco said at the same time.

"Well, yeah. It's not _my_ fault that the three dolts provided me with enough entertainment to talk about all week."

"Oh, look who it is," Draco drawled, and Hermione followed his glance over to see Longbottom, Potter and Weasley, who had come around the other corner and they now walked towards the Slytherins, their faces looking angry, "Lucky for you, Longbottom, there's no cauldron to spill in this corridor."

Hermione saw Blaise stifling a full-on grin as Pansy stood next to him, not even trying to hide her smirk. The three Gryffindors stopped a couple of yards away from them.

"What's your problem, Malfoy?" Potter asked, obviously having gotten their names from Weasley. His father was, after all, a pureblood, however much his actions made it seem like he wasn't.

"Problem? Oh, I don't have a problem. I was merely commenting that Longbottom already has a tenancy of knocking things over. Just like Weasley seems to blow up potions and you seem to lose quite a few house points. Looks like you three _really_ found each other."

"Sod off, Malfoy," Weasley muttered, "You got just as much points off in Transfiguration."

"Actually, Weasley," Draco started, "I got _ten_ points off. And in my opinion it was well worth it. After all, it _did_ dye your hair green."

"Yeah, well," Ron stuttered, "It's normal now!"

Hermione chuckled, "Right," she said, "Like your hair _ever _looks normal."

"Look," Potter turned to Weasley and Longbottom in false surprise, "someone else can actually _speak_ instead of just acting as bodyguards for Malfoy."

"You might want to back off, Potter," Blaise warned, pulling out his wand, "You're a little over your head here."

"Really? You think so?" Potter also pulled out his wand.

"Is that supposed to scare us," Pansy asked, "How many spells do you know? The ones you've learned today? I'll just assume that since you couldn't even turn a match into a toothpick, you couldn't do anything to hurt us."

"Is there a problem here?" Professor Snape stopped in front of the students, "Mr. Potter, it would seem you've neglected to read the school rules. You cannot point a wand at another student. 20 points from Gryffindor. And if I see this again, it will be a detention. Now, off to dinner. All of you."

Blaise let out a burst of laughter as they headed into the Great Hall, "Alright, now I have something new to talk about.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yay! I know it's a short chapter, but I kind of like the chapters that aren't super long. It's easier to read. I know that when I see a really long chapter, I start skimming like crazy. Anyways, this chapter was a lot of talking, not much description or anything. That really annoyed me, but what can you do? I can't really go into detail about classes, because I'm not smart enough to think up something they'd do. So whatever. Oh yeah, and something I forgot to mention in the last chapter. Before writing this story, I thought about all of the stereotypes we have for my favorite Slytherins. Any of this could be wrong, maybe it is in the book and I just don't know about it, but here I go. Where is it written that Pansy is a clingy, annoying girl who says things like "Drakey" and never leaves him alone? I hate that Pansy. I've seen some stories with Pansys that are badass. So I wanted to try and make her cool. I don't know where the annoying-Pansy thing came from, but whatever. What else did I want to say? Oh yeah, replies to the reviews!

**Scribler360:** Thank you! Yeah, I try to make my summaries interesting instead of the 'I suck at summaries, but read anyways.' That always kind of annoys me. Plus, have you ever read one of those? And yes, I think I'm going to have the rest of the fic in their first year, and if people like it enough, maybe I'll go to second year, and maybe farther. Who knows?

**stephmalfoy713:** Thanks! I'll definitely keep writing it. I love being Favorite-Author-ed!

**elb2010:** Well, thanks for reading it. Woohoo.

**suiseinomitsukai:** Well thank you. I didn't want to make her very 'Rawr, I'm a Slytherin," like Draco, but I also realized that if she was a pureblood she'd be different than she was in the books. I figured that JK's Hermione read and was a Know-It-All because she was a Muggleborn, and she wanted to prove she belonged. So I decided Pureblood-Hermione would still be smart, but not as show-offy. Like she'd be just as smart, but she wouldn't answer all the questions in class. I'm rambling.

Also thanks to **tyrani13, beckychelle, McFressie, TheCrzyinglyInsne1** and **QueenO'Randomness**.


	3. You Had a Lighter Load

Chapter Three

The next few weeks of school flew past, with a surprising amount of consistency. Something during the school day would amuse Blaise enough that he'd talk about it until they went to sleep, they'd get in run-ins with Potter and his crew of dimwits, lose points in Transfiguration, laugh when Gryffindors lost points in Potions, start ignoring Blaise around dinner time, do homework in the common room, talk until after midnight, and then go to sleep. When Quidditch season began, they started another tradition. Blaise and Draco always awoke first on Quidditch Saturday, both of them huge fans of the sport, then they would yell loudly until Pansy and Hermione woke up. They'd wander down to breakfast, where the only other people awake were the Quidditch teams playing, and if Slytherin wasn't one of them, they'd decide who they wanted to win, and place bets. When Slytherin was playing, they bet how much Slytherin would win by.

The fourth match-up of the season was on October 30th, the day before Halloween, and it was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Of course, on this Saturday, the Slytherin table was almost full by the time Hermione, Blaise, Pansy and Draco got there.

"So," Blaise began, as they sat down in their regular seats, "By how much, do you think?"

"With Potter as Seeker?" Draco smirked as he filled his goblet with orange juice, "I'd say by at least 200 points."

"Really? I've heard people talking about him. Apparently he's," Blaise scowled, "decent. So I'm going to bet we'll win by 125."

Pansy and Hermione, who didn't actually like Quidditch very much, always waited until after the boys had bet, and then they'd each place their bets with one of them.

"I guess I agree with Blaise," Hermione said as she grabbed a piece of toast.

"And I'm with Draco. We're going to beat them by so much, they'll be crying about it until Christmas!" Pansy threw a grin at Hermione, who chuckled, knowing that Pansy always tried to put in at least one comment to get the boys more excited, no matter how lame an attempt it usually was. Apparently, though, it was enough for the rest of the table, for everyone who had heard her started cheering until the Gryffindors picked up on it and started chanting, "Gryffindor, Gryffindor." Draco and Blaise started the booing, but as always, it was Slytherin versus the rest of the school, so it wasn't long until the entire school had joined in on the Gryffindor chants.

"We'll see who's cheering after the game!" Marcus Flint, the Slytherin captain, yelled. A few others from the Slytherin team hollered in agreement, until the Slytherin's roars outweighed everyone else's.

* * *

"AND OLIVER WOOD BLOCKS THE QUAFFLE. SLYTHERIN IS DOWN BY 40." The stadium was as loud as it had ever been, with every last student and teacher, no matter how disinterested they may have been in the beginning, watching the game with wide eyes. Four hours had gone by since the game had begun, and Slytherin had been ahead for most of it, only losing their lead around half an hour ago. Hermione followed Harry Potter's every move, watching him swerve and dive as he avoided Bludgers. So far the Snitch had been sighted five times, each instance it disappeared within moments.

"Potter's got game," Blaise whispered to Hermione. Hermione nodded and shivered simultaneously. The temperature had dropped at least 20 degrees in a week, making it bitterly cold. The brutal wind whipped around them, causing the crowds to take their eyes off of the game long enough to huddle together. When their gazes returned, the students gasped, seeing that Harry Potter now was dangling from his broom with one hand. As everyone gawked up in horror, Potter's broom flipped around, as if trying to throw him off. Which could only mean…?

"Someone's jinxing the broom," Hermione whispered to Draco. Draco nodded slightly, a smirk on his face,

"But who? They're officially my hero," he muttered back. Grinning, Hermione turned her gaze to Slytherin's Seeker, who was taking the opportunity to hunt for the Snitch. Every member of the Gryffindor team stayed frozen in midair, trying to figure out a way to help their newest player to safety, while the Slytherins threw the Quaffle three times into an unguarded hoop.

Suddenly, people were screaming, Hermione glanced over in time to see Harry Potter plummeting to the ground. A loud voice echoed across the stadium,

"_Tardus cado_." And then, Potter's fall slowed to such a sluggish pace that Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and a few other teachers managed to make it down to the field before he hit. Hermione turned her gaze back to the game, where she saw Slytherin's seeker, Terence Higgs, flying around with a golden orb in his right hand.

"It's over," she whispered to Pansy, pointing at Terence, "He's got the Snitch."

No one but the Slytherins noticed. Finally, they saw Marcus and Terence fly over to Lee Jordan's score booth.

Everyone in the stands stayed silent as headed down their stands and back to the school. The teachers escorting Potter were already at the doors. The entirety of Slytherin House stayed in their seats.

"And…Slytherin wins," Lee said, blankly, glancing up to see how far his fellow Gryffindors had gotten, "Like anyone cares," and then he turned off the microphone, and jogged after his friends. Slowly the Slytherins began exiting the stadium as well, cheering at their victory or laughing together over Potter flailing from his broom.

"So," Blaise started, cheerily, as they headed back up the hill towards the school, "final score was what…260-120? So we won by 140."

"Ah, yes," Hermione cheered, "we won! Pay up!" She and Blaise put out their hands, waiting as Draco and Pansy rummaged through their cloak pockets for 10 Galleons.

"This is going to be a good day," Blaise yelled, grinning. Hermione laughed along with the rest of her friends.

"Okay, here's the deal," Draco stated. Looking over, Hermione saw that Pansy had jumped on his back, "First pair to the common room gets 10 Galleons each."

"You're just trying to win back your money!" Blaise pointed out, "Lucky for me, I have a relatively light load," he dodged a smack from Pansy, "Jump on, Hermione, come on." Laughing, Hermione climbed onto Blaise's back.

"READY, SET, GO!" Pansy exclaimed out, and the boys began their race. Hermione shrieked in laughter, as she and Blaise took the lead.

"Go Blaise, go," she cheered. The wind lashed at her face, so Hermione hid her head in Blaise's cloak. When she risked a peek to see who was ahead, she saw the school rapidly approaching.

"Hermione," Blaise said, "Quick, the door!" Glancing behind her, Hermione saw Pansy and Draco were catching up, and taking time to stop and open the door would give the other pair the lead. She took her right arm from Blaise's shoulder, making sure she was latched on tight enough around his neck, and grasped in her cloak pocket for her wand.

"_Patefacio ianua_," she called out, grinning triumphantly as Blaise shot through the doors and down the stairs to the dungeons. Pansy and Draco were far enough behind that Blaise felt comfortable enough to decelerate to a slow jog as he and Hermione approached the common room entrance.

"Serpente astuto," Blaise said, smoothly, the Italian password being no problem for him, as he was Italian. Before the two of them could walk through the portrait, they heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. Chuckling to himself, Blaise stepped through the archway and into the common room. He dropped Hermione onto a couch near the fire, then sat down next to her, just as Draco and Pansy entered the room.

"You were right," Draco muttered, breathless, as he sat down next to Hermione on the couch, "You did have a lighter load."

"Hey!" Pansy exclaimed, whacking Draco on the head before sitting down on the armchair next to the rest of the group. Hermione smiled and relaxed against the couch, listening to her friends' conversation.

* * *

The next day, Halloween, the school was completely abuzz, because Potter had allegedly been released from the Hospital Wing.

"Already?" Blaise whined during breakfast, "I was hoping for complications. You know, like … they have to amputate his … like body or something, you know?"

Hermione shared a look with Pansy, "Blaise," Hermione started, sweetly, "how much sugar have you had this morning?"

"What are you saying?" he shot back, suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

"Never mind," she replied, rolling her eyes. Suddenly a large clump of people walked through the doorway into the Great Hall. The twin Weasleys and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, along with the younger Weasley and Longbottom. People started to cheer when they noticed Potter near the back of the group.

"I can think of a bright side in all of this," Draco said, "We have Potions today, and knowing Professor Snape…"

"GOODIE," Blaise cheered, causing Hermione, Pansy and Draco to stare at him with confused looks.

"Blaise," Pansy said, patiently, holding out her hand, "give it here."

"Fine," Blaise sulked, pulling out a carton of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and passing it to her.

* * *

"Now," Professor Snape began, "I suspect your essays on side effects of a badly brewed Boil-Cure Potion are ready to turn in. Given the amount of time you had to complete it, I expect them to be done perfectly," he started to circle around the rooms, collecting the parchments from the students who already had them out. He stopped when he got to Potter and Weasley, "Mr. Potter, I see you don't have your essay?"

"No, sir," he stated, "I was in the Hospital Wing."

"Yes, everyone here is aware of your mishap during the Quidditch Game yesterday, but the essay was assigned a week ago. Are you telling me you were leaving it until last night?"

"Sir, I--"

"A zero for you, Mr. Potter. And detention. Tonight, right after dinner."

"But--"

"Tomorrow as well," he replied, and began to walk away.

"Professor--"

"Don't test me, Potter," Professor Snape snarled, stalking back to Potter.

Hermione laughed quietly, then glanced over to see Draco and Blaise, covering their own laughter by looking at their table.

* * *

"I guess this happens a lot?" Hermione asked at dinner, as she glanced over at Blaise,

"Oh definitely." Pansy told her, smirking.

"My parents have a Halloween Party every year," Draco replied, looking amused, "and this is always how it ends." He gestured at Blaise.

"I love candy, I love chocolate, it's so great, I can't believe it," Blaise sang, as he bounced around.

"Unbelievable," Hermione laughed, taking a sip of her soup, "And dinner's only just started."

"It only gets worse," Pansy said, seriously.

"Agreed, wait until--"

The doors to the Great Hall swung open, revealing a frazzled-looking Professor Quirrel,

"TROLL, IN THE DUNEGON," he yelled, "TROLL!" And he collapsed. The Great Hall turned to chaos quickly. Everyone was up, and running towards the exit. Some people were screaming, others just frantically looking for their friends or siblings. Hermione, Draco, Pansy and Blaise were up in an instant, being pushed along by their classmates.

"SILENCE," Dumbledore yelled, stopping the chaotic crowd immediately, "Students, follow your prefects to your common rooms, teachers, come with me to the dungeons."

"How it get in??" Hermione asked, glancing behind her to make sure her friends were still there.

"Not by itself," Pansy replied, "Trolls are too stupid."

"That's why I'm confused," Hermione told her, as they followed the crowd of Slytherins down to the dungeons.

Once the Slytherins were away from the chaos, a regular volume of chatter emerged. Everyone knew that trolls were only dangerous when you didn't know how to fight them, and lucky for the Slytherins, their parents had taught them well.

"Well? Let's go find the beast," Draco suggested, "It can't be too hard."

"YAY," Blaise cheered, "LET'S ATTACK IT!" He charged ahead, deeper into the dungeons.

"Merlin," Hermione muttered, "Well come on, he can't do it alone," and they ran after their overexcited friend.

* * *

Finally they found Blaise at the far end of the dungeon.

"I can't find it," he said, dejected, his hyper-ness obviously beginning to wear off. But suddenly there was a loud bang from the empty classroom near them. They looked at each other: Hermione shrugged, Blaise hummed, Pansy smirked, and Draco nodded and muttered, "Might as well." With that, they hurried over to the door and pulled it open.

There was a second crash the second the door opened, Hermione stepped backwards surprised. Potter, Weasley and Longbottom were standing in front of a full-grown mountain troll with their wands out, trying to decide what spell to use.

"I don't remember any!" Longbottom cried, hiding his face from the debris the troll kept throwing.

"This was a lousy idea, then," Weasley complained, jumping away from a chair the troll had tossed at him.

"Well we can't levitate him, he's too big?" Harry replied, though he said it in more of a question form.

Draco chuckled under his breath, "_Somnus_," he called out, pointing at the troll. The beast's eyes began to close, and it began to snore. And fall.

"_Tardus cado_," Hermione repeated the spell Dumbledore had used on Potter during his fall. The three Gryffindors spun around, eager to see who had saved them. Their grins faded when they saw the Slytherins.

"Your welcome," Draco said, smirking.

"We didn't need your he--" Potter cut off when the classroom door swung open again, and his eyes widened. Hermione turned around, and saw Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall step in, looking angry, then surprised.

"The troll," McGonagall stated, "who knocked it out?"

"We did," Draco replied, smugly, "While Potter and his friends stood around stupidly."

"I could see why my students were down here," Professor Snape stated, "This is the dungeons after all, but why are three Gryffindors down here, while their dorms are on the seventh floor?" He raised his eyebrows, "I suggest detention for the three of them."

"Oh?" McGonagall glanced angrily at Professor Snape, "The Slytherin dorms are on the other side of the dungeon. I find it hard to believe they got lost."

"They will all have detention tomorrow evening at 7pm," Dumbledore said, quietly.

"Headmaster," Professor Snape began, "I must protest, my students were the ones that knocked out the troll. I hardly think it's fair…"

"Yes, and I applaud them for it, but they were to go straight to their dormitories, as your students were to do as well, Minerva. 7pm, be at Hagrid's hut."

The three Gryffindors grinned at their luck, while Hermione had to suppress a groan. The dumb half-giant hated Slytherins.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hey y'all. I haven't updated in like … a really long time. Sorry about that. Anyways. What did I want to say about this chapter? Oh yeah, isn't it weird to think about, how many things would be different about the book if Hermione wasn't there? As you can already tell, Harry probably would have fallen from his broom because Hermione didn't set Snape on fire. And Harry wouldn't have gone after the troll to save Hermione, because Ron never offended her in Charms. IT'S WEIRD, ISN'T IT? Obviously, there will be more of that. What else? Oh yeah, isn't Blaise hilarious? I think I made him a little too crazy when he was hyper, he almost seemed drunk. Or high. Or both. But whatever, I love making Blaise random. OH YEAH. I wanted to say, I never knew for sure what Blaise looked like. I've heard he was Italian, black and as white as Draco. I'd have to say my favorite is Italian, but I'm actually pretty sure he's black. I chose Italian because I like him as that better. I just said that. Oops, I'm ranting again. TIME TO REPLY TO REVIEWS.

**rebecca: **I guess this wouldn't be as soon an update as you wanted. And yeah, I'm probably going to throw in a Potter/Granger conflict in the next chapter or so, maybe during detention. Harry have a crush on her is a good idea too, or just trying to bother Draco and Blaise by flirting but they're 11 right now, so if I continue, I'll definitely put that in like year 3 or above. OVERPROTECTING HERMIONE IS GREAT, ISN'T IT?

**TheCrzyinglyInsne1:** I know, isn't Blaise hilarious? I hope you enjoyed him this chapter too. Tell me if he was too insane.

Also thank you to **me-twilighter**, **steph_malfoy713**, **dracolover69**, and **PinkSlytherin**. Please review. (:

_Tardus cado_: Latin for slow fall or slow the fall.

_Patefacio ianua: _Latin for open door or open the door.

_Serpente astuto: _Italian for sly serpent.

_Somnus: _Latin for sleep.

**SO SORRY FOR THE 3 E-MAILS SAYING I UPDATED!**


	4. Hello Dear

Chapter Four

As the sun began to set, the four Slytherins walked slowly down to Hagrid's hut, dreading detention with the half-breed but looking forward to irritating Potter and company for a few extra hours, especially after the day they had had. Potter had somehow turned around the incident with the troll to make it look like they were in no need of help when the Slytherins burst in. The entire school thought that they had just taken an opportunity to rid Potter of his glory and the glares intensified as the day went on; of course, the rest of Slytherin House knew the real story, which caused more disturbances during classes.

"I swear," Draco muttered, "Potter will get what's coming to him. It's about time we taught him a real lesson, we've been a bit tame but I say it's about time that changes."

"Before you start plotting his murder," Hermione cut in, "we might want to see what the oaf has planned for us. It might limit your options if Hagrid is looking over your shoulder all night."

"I say we set a pack of werewolves on him," Blaise suggested, "It's not as messy. I mean, it _would_ be messy, but no one could pin it on us. It'd just be a 'tragic' accident."

"Wow," Pansy stated, rolling her eyes, "this is the conversation we're having? Plotting Potter's murder? I'd say there's a long line to get in before it's your turn. All the Death Eaters, for example? If we're going to kill him, we should at least make a night of it. Call everyone up--like a party."

"Seriously? You're all crazy, I think," Hermione said, grinning, "Instead of killing him, how about we focus on making his life hell as much as possible. We can escalate into murder in a few years, I'd think."

"I can wait," Draco assured her, "but the sooner the better, in my opinion."

When they reached the hut on the edge of the forest, they saw through a window that Hagrid was making up some tea while Potter, Weasley and Longbottom sat around a wooden table. Without knocking, Draco threw open the door,

"Sorry to interrupt your little tea party, but don't we have a detention to serve?"

"10 points from Slytherin for disrespect," Hagrid growled, towering over the Slytherins, though they didn't look the slightest bit afraid. Hermione laughed quietly, and the half-breed's glare moved over to her, "What're yeh laughing at?"

"You don't have the authority to take off house points," Hermione scoffed, "You're not a teacher, in fact, you really don't have a purpose here at all."

Hagrid's beady eyes narrowed, "Now listen here, you little--"

"Little, what?" Blaise asked, raising his eyebrows, daring Hagrid to continue, "I'm sure we'd all love to hear what you were about to call Hermione. Actually, our parents would too, so if you wouldn't mind, I could call my father up right now and he could be here in ten minutes. How about you, Hermione?"

"My parents could be here in five. They're _quite_ protective of me, and wouldn't want anyone insulting their precious child." Hermione taunted.

All was silent in the small hut for a few moments. Hagrid's face turned red, then redder, before gruffly mumbling something about how detention was supposed to have already started.

The group followed Hagrid outside until they were inches from the Forbidden Forest, "Right then," Hagrid began, "Something in there is killing unicorns--"

"Why would anyone want to kill unicorns, Hagrid?" Potter asked. Draco hid a grin, as Blaise chuckled and Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Because, Potter," Hermione started, using a tone of voice one would use when explaining something simple to a five year old, "if you drink unicorn blood, you become immortal, even if you were seconds from death before. Of course, you can't just have one sip, you'd need more every so often."

"Well then why isn't everyone drinking unicorn blood to stay alive forever?" Potter asked, not being able to hide his curiosity.

"Honestly? You _really_ don't know?" Hermione grinned, amused.

"The moment the blood touches your lips, Potter," Blaise cut in, "you live a cursed life. Quite obviously most people chose death over that."

"So who would chose…" Harry muttered to Ron, before both of their eyes widened. Hermione glanced at Pansy, who had also noticed the Gryffindors' sudden realization. Before she had time to think it over, Hagrid continued,

"Anyway, there's a unicorn in there righ' now, hurt, but not dead yet. And we need to find it. We're separating into two groups."

"But," Draco started, in a fake terrified voice, glancing at Blaise, "there are _werewolves_ in there."

Hermione stifled a smile, remembering Blaise's plan from minutes ago, to set werewolves on Potter. Potter and Weasel shared amused looks at what they thought was Draco's genuine fear, but stayed quiet as Hagrid made the groups,

"Ron, Zabini and Parkinson will be with me, while Harry, Neville, Granger and Malfoy will go alone."

"What?" Neville cried, "Who will protect _us_?"

"Don't worry, Longbottom," Draco smirked, "I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

"Yeh can take Fang, if yeh want," Hagrid offered, "but he's a right coward."

"Okay," Neville agreed, looking ill.

"Right, so Harry, your group can go that way, the rest of you? Follow me."

"Well then," Potter started, glancing at the forest as Hagrid's group disappeared into it, "I guess we go in now?"

Longbottom nodded, pitifully.

"I for one, don't know why we're still standing here," Hermione stated, and strode forward towards the forest. Draco followed with a laugh, leaving the two 'brave' Gryffindors to trail behind them with Fang.

The Forbidden Forest was pitch black once they got far enough away from the beginning. Keeping to the path, at least for now, Hermione and Draco pulled out their wands simultaneously and whispered, "_Lumos_," before looking at each other and laughing.

"Great minds think alike?" Hermione guessed, as she used the light from her wand to scout ahead of them. Behind them, they heard Longbottom and Potter hastily copying the same spell. Rolling her eyes, Hermione came to a stop and turned to face the group, "Okay. Unicorns pretty much are not known to wander too deep into forests like this. So I'd say we should go off the trail…"

"_Off_ the trail?" Longbottom whimpered, "Hagrid never said we'd have to go off the path!"

Draco shrugged, "He probably doesn't even know anything _about_ unicorns. But if you're scared…" He left the statement open, knowing that Potter would want to prove himself fearless.

"We're not_ scared_, Malfoy." Potter spat, before stalking off of the path. Hermione and Draco followed behind leaving Neville cowering on the path with Fang.

Near an opening of the trees, Potter came to an abrupt stop, causing both Slytherins to stop short to avoid running into him.

"What's the hold-up, Potter?" Draco said, with a smirk, "Did a squirrel frighten y--what the hell is that?"

Hermione walked out in front of the group, looking for whatever was causing all the fuss. A dark shadow moved out of the corner of her eye, and she spun around to see a unicorn on the ground, and a cloaked figure began to glide toward her. She pointed the wand at it, "_Locomotor Mortis_,"

Nothing happened.

"Oh, right. No legs," Hermione murmured, "_Impedimenta_!" The creature slowed, but still continued toward her.

"Hermione!" Draco said, slowly, "Get back here." She hadn't realized, but she had began walking toward the cloaked creature. Suddenly, they were face to face. Hermione couldn't see the figure's face, but knew she didn't have anything to fear. "Hermione!"

"It's fine," she said calmly, "don't worry." The creature raised a cloaked hand, placing it gently on her face. _Hello, dear_. The thought came into her mind out of nowhere, and Hermione realized that it was the creature.

_Can't you talk_, Hermione asked.

_No, not in this form. You're Hermione Granger._

_Yes. How did you.._

_Your father was one of my most loyal followers_, the creature told her.

"Granger! Come _on!_" Potter yelled. Hermione didn't move, but before she knew what had happened, the figure pushed past her, heading right toward Potter. There was a sudden roar, and another creature jumped into the clearing, fighting off the figure. Hermione then noticed Draco wrapping his arm around her waist and walking her back over to the group. She just realized how drained of energy she was. After it had retreated into the depths of the forest, the creature walked towards them. A centaur.

"Harry Potter," he greeted, "you must leave. The forest is not safe at this time, especially for you."

"Harry!" Hagrid called, walking into the clearing with Pansy, Blaise and Weasley, "Ah, hello Firenze, I see you've met our young Mr. Potter."

Draco and Hermione shared an amused glance, as the group headed back out to the school. Once the Slytherins and the Gryffindors had separated, Draco began to tell the other group what happened,

"We got to this clearing," he told them, as they walked down the last flight of stairs to the dungeons, "Potter had stopped dead in his tracks, and Hermione went around him and..it came towards her. She tried cursing it but it didn't stop. Then, Hermione, what happened? You got really quiet."

"He talked to me," Hermione told them, tiredly, then paused to say the password, "_Putus cruor superbia_. In my head," she continued, as they walked to their couches by the fire, "It was the Dark Lord," she told them.

"He's alive," Pansy exclaimed.

"Living off unicorns in the forest, Pansy," Blaise cut in, "So, barely alive."

"But still alive," Hermione told them, rubbing her pounding head, "and I think Potter and his band of idiots know it too."

"You're right," Pansy agreed, but continued to explain when she saw the boys' confused looks, "Remember before we went into the forest? Potter asked who would want to live a cursed life, but cut his own question short? That's because he figured it out."

"You're right!" Draco said, "Remember after Potter yelled at you to come back, Hermione? The Dark Lord sped right at him. Ignoring you, ignoring the fact that if he really just wanted to kill someone, we were both closer than Potter. Potter may be oblivious and dim-witted, but he's got to be able to realize what that means.."

"Great," Blaise complained, "Now we have to do something productive, don't we?"

"Sorry, Blaise," Draco told him, "Potter's going to try and do something heroic to get rid of the Dark Lord, so we're pretty much obligated to stop him."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hey y'all. Been a while, huh? Sorry! My life's been crazy. But here's an update. It's short, but at least it's something! Oh and since I haven't done a disclaimer in a while, I don't own anything. Oh, also, I kind of suck at writing how Hagrid talks, so I usually don't bother. Did I already say that in another chapter? I don't know! Moving on!

putus cruor superbia: pureblood pride

Time to reply to the reviews!

**rebecca:** I'm good! You're right, we don't see each other anymore. Stupid.. going to different schools now. Oh well. I need a little Harry crushing action, it'll make my life more amusing. But not until WAY later; as in, if I do more than just the first book. We'll see!

**steph_malfoy713:** Thanks! And yeah, he was a little hyper. It was such a boring chapter for the most part, so I wanted to entertain myself, haha.

Also thanks to **PinkSlytherin**, **HermioneandMarcus**, **Hermione'sBFF454**, **Hotgirlow**, and **tyrani13** for reviewing!


	5. We'll Take it From Here

Chapter Five:  
As it was well past midnight, the four Slytherins decided to turn in soon after they had set up the beginning of their plan. They knew that the best thing to do first was to consult their parents about the Dark Lord being alive-because people of the Inner Circle definitely needed to be informed of that little tidbit. So after Blaise and Draco had helped Hermione to her dormitory-she was still very worn out from the encounter with the Dark Lord, the four went to sleep.

The next morning, they got ready quickly and headed to Professor Snape's office to ask him for permission to go off of the school grounds for the day. While they walked to his office, they wondered briefly whether or not they should trust Professor Snape with this information.

"My father trusts Snape 100%," Draco assured them, "he's on our side. There's no way in hell he would abandon the Dark Lord's cause. It's just not possible."

"All I'm saying," Blaise started, "is that my dad has had his doubts about Snape's loyalty. I'm not saying he's right, but I don't think we should risk it. We can get off the grounds without telling him the truth, and at this point it's not like we need his help."

"I agree with Blaise," Hermione said, glancing behind them to make sure no one else was in the corridor, "We can always ask our parents today if he should be trusted."

"Professor Snape is in the Inner Circle, just like our parents! There's as much of a chance as _him_ changing sides as any of our parents," Pansy argued.

"With one very important difference," Hermione cut in, "Snape has been working by Dumbledore's side at this school since the Dark Lord's downfall. Dumbledore has had plenty of time to persuade Snape to betray the cause."

"We have no reason to believe he would do that," Draco told them.

"At this point, it's not worth the consequences if you're wrong," Hermione said, gently, "I know you trust him, but we just can't risk any of this information getting to Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore's not that daft! If Potter has figured out that the Dark Lord's back, then Dumbledore must already know about it!" Draco insisted.

"Probably, but he can't find out that we're alerting Death Eaters. Nothing good could result in him knowing about this."

"Alright," Draco conceded, "we won't tell Snape. But we're asking our parents' opinions of this when we get home. If they think he should know, then we'll tell him."

* * *

"So, where is it you four need to go today?" Professor Snape asked.

"Oh, my parents planned this luncheon for our families," Hermione told him, nonchalantly, "They've missed the company of their friends while we were out in the country, and this was the only date that everyone was available."

"This could not have waited until you all were out for Winter Holiday?"

"Well, you know how busy that time of year is," Pansy put in, "Parties every night, there's hardly enough time for a casual lunch between friends."

"Alright, when can I expect you all to return?"

"Probably around dinnertime, maybe a little after," Draco told him, "they won't want us to just show up for lunch and leave right after."

"Give your parents my regards, then, especially your's, Miss Granger. I haven't seen your parents in quite some time." He handed her the parchment excusing them for the day, "It's a portkey."

Blaise, Draco and Pansy grabbed onto the parchment just in time for them to disappear from Professor Snape's office and appear in the entrance hall of the Granger Mansion, where their parents would be meeting them.

* * *

"Well, Hermione," her mother started, as they sat around their dining room table, "are you going to tell us all why you four insisted upon this meeting?"

"Yes, mother. The problem is, I honestly don't know where to start."

"I'll tell them," Blaise offered, and Hermione nodded in consent, "You're probably going to all have some difficulties believing me, but trust me when I say that there is no 'if' about this, there is no 'maybe.' We're absolutely positive that this is true, and we just don't know what to do about it."

"Alright, Blaise," Mr. Zabini said, sounding impatient, "just tell us already."

"The Dark Lord, he's.. he's back."

* * *

Later that night, Hermione thought back to her parents' reactions to the news, and wondered how she could have possibly expected any different.

_"I'm sorry, I think I must have misheard you," Narcissa stated, narrowing her eyes, "You couldn't all be sitting here telling us that He's..back._

_It's simply not possible."_

_"Let them talk, Cissa," Sophia Parkinson said, quietly._

_All of their parents became silent, waiting for an explanation._

_"Okay," Hermione took a deep breath, "well, we had detention last night, and we had to go into the Forbidden Forest to find a dying unicorn-"_

_"You had to go into the _Forbidden_ Forest for a _detention_?"_

_"Yes, father," Draco said, "but that's not important right now."_

_"Anyways," Hermione continued, "Our detention was also with Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley and... Harry Potter."_

_"I hope you're not saying you're _friends_ with that sort, Hermione." Her dad chastised._

_"Hardly," Blaise cut in, "We make their lives hell as much as possible."_

_"Language, Blaise," his mother scolded._

_"Go on, Hermione," Lucius ordered, "I'm still waiting for this story to get interesting."_

_"So we were put into groups, and one group went with Hagrid. My group-with Draco, Longbottom and Potter, went by ourselves."_

_"_Alone_ in the Forbidden Forest? This is unacceptable!" Narcissa shrieked. Everyone ignored her, and continued to listen to Hermione._

_"We went off the path, and Potter was ahead of us, but he stopped abruptly, and when I went in front of him I saw this shadowy figure. It talked to me. He knew who I was, and said 'your father was one of my most loyal followers.' Then he saw Potter, and went after him."_

_"It makes sense, if you think about it," Pansy continued, "If the Dark Lord were back, he would be barely alive, and so unicorn blood..it would, you know, be one of His few options for survival."_

_The parents were all silent for a few moments, and it was Lucius who spoke first,  
_

_"They have a point.. it's at least worth looking into, and alerting some of the Inner Circle. If the Dark Lord is out there, we need to help Him return to his body. Unicorn blood is no way for Him to survive."_

_"We must get the Circle together immediately," Hermione's father said, "and it's time we put into action our plans to break out our imprisoned colleagues."_

_"So what should we do to help?" Pansy asked, "Should we alert anyone at the school? Snape, perhaps?"_

_Narcissa laughed, lightly, "Pansy, darling, there's nothing you four can do to help. You're just children after all."_

_"But you wouldn't know He was back if it weren't for us!" Hermione interjected._

_"Yes, and we thank you for that. But we can take it from here..."_

_"We promise if we need your assistance, we'll let you know," her father assured, chuckling._

Back at Hogwarts, the four friends sat around the fire in the Slytherin common room, and Hermione spoke after hours of silence,

"We're not just going to sit here and do nothing. Regardless of what our parents think, they will need our help. They just don't know it yet.."

* * *

Author's Note:  
Dear Lord, has it really been a year since I've updated? I feel like such a terrible person. It's summer now, so I'm hoping the updates will come quicker now. I'm so sorry for the THIRTEEN MONTH WAIT!  
Replies to the Reviewers:  
**Star-Of-Hearts**: Aw, I'm sorry! Well, here's.. a chapter. Hopefully I'll have another one for you soon.  
**ness171990**: Thank you. I like the idea too, and I've seen it before, but it always had her just being like.. Blaise's sister, or something, and usually she's not born into it, she finds out like seventh year? So I just thought I'd put a different spin on it.  
**Christy**: Thankkss! And don't worry, their friendship will definitely start strengthening more!

Also thanks for **Darkness-Lightness**, **Pinky Prattle**, **LK-HoGwArTs-hEaDgIrL**, **aquarela**, **PinkSlytherin**, **CH7i5**, **fggt16**, **SlytherinPrincess26**, **tyrani13**, **THEKOOKS**, **voldyismyfather**, **TwilightRocks**, **FashionStarlet** and **takara410** for reviewing. Review again, please. :)


	6. Happy Christmas

Chapter Six

"I'm not sure what you mean, Draco," Hermione said, as she threw more sweaters into her trunk.

"All I'm saying is that the 'Golden Trio' is staying here for holiday for a reason, and we should do the same and figure out what they're up to." Draco said, lounging casually on Hermione's bed.

"Look, I know you want to figure this all out, but our parents have it covered," Pansy said, from across the room, "there's nothing we can do. I know we originally thought we could be helpful, but let's be honest, what can we do right now? We told them, they'll get everyone together, and figure it out. In fact, being home might be better, we can eavesdrop and see what they're planning."

"Exactly, and I think we're giving Potter and his clan of morons too much credit," Hermione paused, and glanced back at her drawers before closing her trunk with a bang, "How are _they_ going to stop the Dark Lord from coming back for real? Have you seen them in class recently? I'm surprised if they're getting higher than a P in anything."

"I don't know," Draco got up, "I have a feeling something's going to happen while we're gone, but I guess you two are right."

"We normally are," Pansy said, in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Just get used to it, Draco." Hermione replied with a smirk.

Rolling his eyes, Draco headed out the door, "We're leaving in ten minutes to get to the train. You should probably start packing, Pans."

* * *

"And this year I'd like to make a special toast to the Granger family, reuniting with old friends and rekindling old beliefs. Happy Christmas, everyone." Lucius sat down from his Christmas toast, and chatter in the room instantly began again.

Hermione sat at a table with her friends for the Malfoy's Annual Christmas party, and as they began talking again, she couldn't stop staring at Lucius Malfoy, who began to walk through the crowd a little too sneakily for a Christmas party. She noted as he walked first to her parents, then the rest of her friend's parents, along with a few other. It was obvious to her, and anyone who was paying the slightest bit of attention, that this was the Inner Circle breaking off to have a meeting. Nudging Pansy, Hermione gestured at the crowd subtly exiting through a side door.

"What's going on here?" Blaise whispered, obviously noting the exit of a handful of the adults.

"Inner Circle meeting, I bet you anything," Hermione whispered, even quieter, as not everyone at the party was a Death Eater.

"Let's follow them," Draco said with a wicked smile, "see how far they're getting on without us."

Nodding, the four friends stood and also exited the room, as subtly as possible. They soon came to a closed door, and even if they hadn't been trying to eavesdrop they would have been able to hear everything that was being said, or rather-yelled.

"There has to be something that we can do _now,_" Lucius said. "We're working on it," Hermione's father assured him, "it doesn't help that we're going into this blind and with no contact."

"I know that the kids are young," Blaise's mother began, "but they're already at Hogwarts, they could go into the Forest and try to find Him, and get an idea of what we're dealing with."

"Absolutely out of the question," Narcissa cut in, "they're just children and there's more creatures in there that could kill them than I can count on two hands. It's not worth the risk."

"Is it not, Narcissa?" Lucius replied, calmly, "our children are the ones that put this all together, and they know more about magic than people twice their age. We would not be asking much of them, just to see if they can find out more."

"There must be another option, I don't like this either," Mrs Parkinson said, "let's at least see if we can think of any alternatives first."

As everyone calmed down it became harder and harder to hear what was being said, until finally the four friends gave up altogether, hearing pretty much all they needed to.

"They've gotten nowhere," Hermione hissed, as they walked back into the party, "I can't believe it."

"Well, I guess we all know what we have to do then," Draco replied.

"We have to go into the Forbidden Forest again, don't we?" Pansy asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yes," Hermione said, glancing around the table, "alone this time though."

"Whatever," Blaise scoffed, "we're better off without Hagrid and Fang anyway."

"Very true," Draco said, with a brisk nod.


	7. Doesn't Want to be Found

Chapter Seven

Hermione sighed in relief as she walked into her dormitory, and collapsed onto her bed. Winter Holidays had been a good break from the "Golden Trio" as well as from schoolwork for a while, but overall she was happy to be back.

"Merlin, I'm starving," Pansy complained, taking a seat on her own bed, "I can't wait until dinner."

"Me as well." Hermione replied, deep in thought. Pansy noticed the look on her friend's face immediately.

"What?"

"Nothing," Hermione sat up, "Just.. I wonder if Draco was right. I wonder if there's a reason the trio of dimwits stayed over the holidays."

"We both know Potter has no where to go. And as for the other two, their families probably think they're as annoying as we do and didn't want them home!"

Hermione shot Pansy an exasperated look, "That's a little unrealistic, Pans. I don't know, I just think they're up to something. We both know how far our parents are getting on bringing the Dark Lord back, and I don't want Potter getting an advantage."

"It's Potter, we're talking about here. He's the smartest of the group, and he's not even that bright. We just have to get into the forest and try to find the Dark Lord. They're not going to be able to get any kind of advantage with us around."

"I suppose so," Hermione replied, playing with the bracelet her parents had given her for Christmas. "Let's talk about it with the boys at dinner. Speaking of, we should probably head down."

"I think Hermione's right," Draco said, after the four friends had all taken a moment to glance over at the Gryffindor table. The Golden Trio were all huddled close together, talking about something in hushed tones, "do you see them? Something happened over break. We need to figure out what."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Blaise complained, "we're going to be buried in schoolwork after classes start tomorrow, and we already are going into the forest later this week."

"Blaise is right," Pansy replied, "How about we go into the forest, see what the Dark Lord has to say. Maybe He will tell us whatever it is they already know. Then we don't have to follow them around, and we'll still get the information we need."

"Fine," Hermione conceded, then leaned closer to her friends, "then we're going tonight."

* * *

"Be quiet, Draco." Pansy warned, as they reached the front door of Hogwarts. Carefully, Draco opened the door, and they slipped outside. Hermione crossed her arms, tucking her hands under the opposite arm for warmth, as they headed toward the Forbidden Forest.

"Are we far enough away to cast _Lumos_?" Draco wondered, glancing behind him at the darkened school.

"No," Hermione whispered back, "we still have to pass Hagrid's hut, and if he's awake we'll be doomed before we begin."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement as they quickened their paces.

"I hope it's warmer in the forest," Pansy complained, "it's freezing out here."

"You can say that again," Hermione said.

"If we can't find Him, and we came out here for nothing," Blaise begin, his breath visible in the cold air, "I will personally kill all of you."

Hermione shot him a look, "We'll find him, Blaise. It's not as if he has anywhere to go."

"I wonder if he has a plan," Draco said, "to get his body back. Maybe he knows ways our parents haven't thought of."

"I'm sure he does," Hermione replied, as they reached the forest's edge, where they all paused, "Well, let's go." And Hermione led the group into the forest.

"_Lumos_," she whispered, holding out her wand. She heard her friends repeat after her, and they glanced around.

"What way should we go?"

"He wasn't far of the trail last time. I have a hard time thinking he'd go too deep into the forest, if he's looking for unicorns, he'd have to stay mostly where they are." Draco replied.

"How about we look for a unicorn, maybe that's where he'll be." Hermione suggested.

"True, it is easier to track a creature than the Dark Lord." Blaise answered, pointing his wand in the direction of a branch breaking.

"Especially when he doesn't want to be found." Pansy replied. The rest of them nodded somberly in agreement.

* * *

"What's that noise?" Pansy muttered, spinning around to point her wand in the opposite direction.

"Probably nothing important, with the luck we're having." Blaise snapped, but he turned to look anyway, as did Hermione and Draco.

They had been searching through the woods for over an hour, and the cold was chilling the group to the bone, and irritation was starting to show in all of their faces.

"Look, how about we stop here," Hermione gestured around them, as they were currently in a clearing, "sit down, and I'll start a fire. We can all warm up, and then start looking again."

The other three nodded in accord, and they sat together in a close circle, leaving enough room for a small fire in the center.

Hermione piled a small amount of leaves and twigs in the center, before murmuring, "_Incendio_." A small fire appeared, warming them instantly.

"How long are we going to look until we give up?" Blaise asked, bluntly.

"We can always come back another night," Pansy added, "it's not as if the forest or the Dark Lord are going anywhere."

Hermione nodded her understanding.

"I say we look around another half hour, then head back." Draco said, and the other friends murmured their agreement.

There was a sudden snap on the other side of the clearing, sounding like a very thick branch being broken in half.

"What was that?" Hermione hissed, starting to rise to her feet. Draco put a hand on her shoulder, urging her to say seated.

"Whatever it is," Draco whispered, "it's probably better to stay low and out of sight."

"What if it's a werewolf?" Blaise whispered, "I wanted it to get Potter, not us!"

"Calm down," Pansy snapped, "we're not deep enough in the forest for that."

The four friends quieted as they stared at the other side of clearing. Slowly, a creature stepped into a sight. With the lighting of the fire it was easy to tell what it was.. a unicorn. But no amount of light could really reveal what happened next. There was a movement by the trees, and the unicorn was on the ground, pinned by a black shadow.

"It's him," Hermione whispered, "it has to be." They all stood up, cautiously, watching in awe and horror as the unicorn quietly whined in pain as the lifeblood drained from its body.

As quickly as the Dark Lord had attacked the unicorn, it turned toward the friends. They approached him slowly, glancing at each other as well as at him.

"Um, hello," Blaise started, bowing awkwardly. The other three followed him in a quick bow. "We know who you are, uh, sir."

"We're here to help," Draco added, "we know that you must be trying to find a way back to your body, my Lord."

"Ah," he hissed, swooping closer, "the children of my most loyal followers. Tell me, what will you do to help me return to my body?"

"Whatever it takes, my Lord." Hermione replied.

"We know that Potter is trying to stop you, but we don't know what he knows." Pansy told him.

"Potter," he hissed in disgust, "in the school, there is something I need. An object. He must have found out about it."

"What is it, sir?" Pansy asked.

"The Sorcerer's Stone," he paused, watching their shocked expressions, "I need you to find it, before he does, and bring it to me."

"Of course, my Lord." Draco nodded.

"How will we be able to find you though, sir?" Hermione asked, "We've been looking for quite some time tonight."

"I come to this clearing every night. You will find me here."

"The Sorcerer's Stone, can you _believe_ it?" Draco shouted, after having put a silencing charm on the Common Room.

"Does Potter know? Do we think he knows where it is?" Pansy asked, looking worried.

"There's only one way to find out.." Hermione said, with a smirk as an idea formed.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Another year in between updates. I seriously suck. I wrote a note on my profile, explaining the absence and making a promise! I promise to update every other week until all of my current stories are finished. I'm at school, and busy with that, so I might not be perfect, but I'm going to try very hard and I'm not going to stop until they're all done!

Replies:

**goofyduxs777:** Thanks for your review earlier today, it made me realize people still want to read my stories! Hope you enjoy.

**ness171990**, **imy321**, **LilFayexxx**, **supernaturalNUT **and **Becca12345: **thank you all so much for your reviews, whether they came when the last chapter was just published or more recently! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!


	8. Fluffy

Chapter 8

"Hermione, are you sure this is going to work?" Pansy asked, looking down at the potion in distaste.

"Yes," Hermione hissed, as she slowly filled the four vials, "Look. My parents started teaching me to brew potions when I was six. I've seen them make this potion before and I've helped make it as well. This will work."

"Not that," Pansy replied, shaking her head with amusement, "I know the potion will be perfectly brewed, you're the best at potions. I mean do you think we are going to get into the Gryffindor common room, and get Potter to tell us what we need to know."

"Blaise and Draco are working on their password, you know that. They found the entrance to the dormitory the other week when they followed Longbottom after Herbology. We've got it all planned out. It will be fine. Now, let's go to dinner."

* * *

"What d'you think they're reading over there anyway?" Blaise asked, after taking a bite of shepherd's pie.

"Manners, Blaise!" Pansy retorted, throwing a roll across the table, hitting him straight in the forehead.

"You better be glad this isn't the proper time for a food fight or you would be in trouble." Blaise said, narrowing his eyes.

Rolling his eyes, Draco rose to his feet,

"If you're that curious, Blaise. I'll go see what they're reading. Meet you in Transfiguration." And with that, Draco sauntered toward the Trio.

"Oh, Merlin," Pansy smirked, "I'm not even going to watch to see how badly this goes…"

"We might as well start walking to Transfiguration," Hermione suggested, "We'll find out if he knows something soon enough."

* * *

"They were reading about the Sorc—," Draco whispered, but was cut off as the lesson began. Hermione grabbed a spare piece of parchment and shoved it into Draco's hand, and he quickly wrote down what he had heard.

_They were researching the Sorcerer's Stone, so we were right about them knowing. I heard them talking too.. something about the third floor corridor. And something about a cloak—that could be how they've been sneaking around the past month, Potter could have an Invisibility cloak._

Hermione quickly scrawled a reply,

_Do you think they're talking about the third floor corridor on the right hand side? The side Dumbledore forbade anyone to go to at the beginning of the year?_

Hermione looked at Draco as he read her reply, and when she caught his attention, he nodded in agreement. It seemed that Potter was more cunning than they had ever thought possible.. They would have to check the third floor immediately to see what the Trio knew that they didn't.

* * *

"So, it's time to make a decision," Hermione began, as the four friends sat around the fire later that night. Other students milled about the common room, passing time before dinner began, but no one was paying them the least bit of attention as they discussed their plans, "We have four vials of Polyjuice potion. The four of us could all take a vial as planned, and go to the Gryffindor common room to get information. Or, two of us could go to the third floor and see what the Trio found there, while the other two go to their common room to talk to them."

"What would we do with the extra vials of Polyjuice if we went with the latter?" Draco asked.

Shrugging, Hermione replied, "Save them, I suppose. You never know when it could come in handy."

"I personally like that plan better," Pansy interjected, "we don't really need four people in the Gryffindor common room, especially since me and Hermione would have to eavesdrop as Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil anyway. It just isn't necessary. But we could go to the third floor as the two of you pretend to be Longbottom and Weasley. That would be more productive."

Hermione nodded, "So it's agreed?"

"Yes," Draco nodded, "when?"

"Tonight." Hermione replied.

* * *

Getting Weasley and Longbottom alone after dinner was more difficult than they had planned. They needed to slip them a sleeping potion, so that they wouldn't burst in on Draco and Blaise as they talked to Potter. But as always, the three traveled together in a pack.

"We obviously didn't think about this part," Pansy hissed, as they walked the Trio get up to leave the Great Hall.

"It's fine," Hermione replied, "I have a plan."

"Of course you do, you always do," Blaise rolled his eyes, good-naturedly. "I would expect nothing less at this point."

"Just follow me." Hermione got quickly to her feet, and the four Slytherins made it out of the Great Hall ahead of the Gryffindors.

"Good, now Blaise and Draco, just hide for a moment, will you? They'll trust me and Pansy over the two of you."

Not even bothering to ask Hermione the plan, Draco and Blaise casted disillusionment spells on themselves just as the Gryffindors walked out of the door.

"Weasley, Longbottom." Hermione greeted, trying to act casual and ignoring the confused and irritated looks on the Trio's faces, "Professor Snape asked us to come find you. He needs to talk to you about your Potions from class today."

"Why doesn't he want to see me?" Potter interjected.

"Weren't you partners with Seamus today, mate?" Weasley replied, turning to his friend. Potter nodded in assent, and muttered,

"Tell me if they try anything."

Hermione and Pansy exchanged amused glances, and the four began to walk down to the dungeon, with Draco and Blaise following behind. When they had made it down the stairs, Hermione heard Draco murmur behind her,

"_Somnus_," and saw Weasley's eyes flicker closed, before another voice whispered the same spell, and Longbottom fell asleep as well. In moments, the two boys were falling backwards, and before they hit the ground were caught by seemingly no one.. since Draco and Blaise's Disillusionment charms were still in place. The two dragged the Gryffindors into a nearby broom cupboard, and placed Disillusionment charms on them, before taking off their own.

Hermione stepped up to the door, placing a locking spell on it.

"Did you get their hairs?" Pansy asked, and both boys showed the strands of hairs they held in their hands.

"Good, then let's make sure the potion works, and we'll be off." Hermione said, "We'll have to be quick, Potter will get suspicious if his friends are gone for too long."

* * *

Pansy and Hermione hurried up the stairs behind 'Ron' and "Neville,' and as they reached the third floor, they separated.

"Good luck," Hermione whispered as the boys headed up another flight to the Gryffindor common room.

"Be careful!" Draco/Neville called back.

"Well," Pansy took a deep breath, "let's figure out what the trio found."

The two girls headed into the forbidden corridor, looking around first to make sure no one was watching.

* * *

"Pig snout," Draco said, calmly, and watched as the Fat Lady swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room. "Let's do this," he whispered to Blaise, as they stepped inside. Before they could so much as look around the room, Potter was calling them over to the plush chairs by the fireplace. He was setting up a Wizard's Chessboard in between the two chairs.

"What did Snape want?" Potter asked, as they joined him.

"About our potion," Draco grumbled, "we messed up. He wanted to tell us personally that we were getting zeros for the assignment."

"I figured it was something like that," Potter nodded, then looked over at Blaise/Ron, "Fancy a game, Ron? I've been practicing, I think I can finally beat you!"

Draco glanced at Blaise, remembering Weasley boasting about his chess skills. Blaise was not very skilled at Wizard's chess himself, and wondered if this was going to give them away.

"Sure," Blaise replied, "Why not?"

As the boys began to play, Draco wondered how he could bring up the third floor corridor or the Sorcerer's Stone.

"So I was thinking," Draco started, and waited for Potter to look up at him, giving Blaise a chance to switch a piece on the board to his advantage, "we should go back up to the third floor soon. It seems important."

"I don't want to see Fluffy again, Neville. I know you thought you saw a trapdoor underneath it, but I'm sure it was nothing."

_Who was Fluffy_? Draco wondered.

"I'm sure it was a trapdoor," Draco continued, "positive, actually."

"We could never get passed that three headed beast even if we tried." Potter continued, "Hagrid hasn't told us how to get him to fall asleep anyway. Once we figure it out, we'll go down there and see if that's where Hagrid and Dumbledore put the Stone, but for now there's nothing we can do."

Draco and Blaise exchanged a glance, and they both jumped to their feet. _Three headed beast? We need to get to Hermione and Pansy right away_.

"Hey! Where are you two going?" Potter called, as they raced out of the common room.

* * *

"Well this is the only door we haven't checked." Pansy said, as the two friends stared at the door in front of them.

"_Alohomora_," Hermione said, glancing quickly behind her, "Did you hear that?"

"I'm sure it's nothing," Pansy replied, "open the door. Something important is in here—I know it."

Hermione reached for the handle, and just as she touched it a voice behind her yelled,

"_Colloportus_!"

The two girls spun around, seeing Draco and Blaise as they skidded to a stop in front of them.

"What the _hell_, Draco? This is it, whatever Potter knows about, it's behind this door."

"We know what's in there," Blaise panted, still out of breath from their run, "a monster with three heads, guarding a trap door. The trio thinks that the Sorcerer's Stone is being kept hidden underneath it."

"_What_?" Pansy exclaimed, glancing back at the newly locked door.

"Well we need to open it," Hermione replied, walking back toward the door, "to make sure. It'll be fine."

No one stopped her as she whispered, "_Alohomora_," though when she turned around she saw all three of her friend's wands at the ready. Taking a deep breath, Hermione opened the door.

The room was dark, lit by only two candles flickering on each wall, but she could make out the shape of a giant creature getting to its feet. With an enormous growl it moved toward her, and she stumbled backward. Before she fell, Draco caught her in his arms,

"Are you okay?" He said, as Blaise and Pansy wrestled the door shut and relocked it.

"Yes," she whispered, "I'm fine."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Look, it's me consistently updating, what a surprise! I'm pretty proud of myself, I'm going to be completely honest.

Thanks to **Rigoudon3**, **Hermione Voldemort Riddle**, **jessy3123**, **LilFayexxx** and **blackangel150** for your reviews. Hope you all enjoy the chapter!


	9. Jump

Chapter 9

Over the next few months, the Slytherins followed the Trio's every move, waiting for some sign that they were about to head down the trapdoor to get the stone. While they did that, Hermione spent hours in the library researching what could be under the trapdoor, and trying to find out anything she could about three headed dogs and what could make them fall asleep. So far though, she was having no luck whatsoever. They were starting to realize that if they were going to figure out how to get past the beast, they would need to somehow get the information from the oaf, Hagrid, himself. But that task in itself seemed impossible.

One day in early May, Hermione once again found herself sitting at her normal table in the library, pouring over books about magical creatures.

"Hermione!"

Glancing up in surprise, she saw Draco running toward her, getting shushed by Madam Pince as he ran. As he skidded to a stop in front of her, he gasped out,

"We.. are bloody.. idiots."

"How do you mean?" Hermione asked and gestured at the chair across from her, offering him a seat.

"I figured out a way to find out what we need to know from Hagrid. And you'll want to hit yourself when you realize how stupid we all are."

"Point," Hermione said, rolling her eyes, "Draco.. waiting on the point."

"The extra Polyjuice Potion. I'll use it to transform into Weasley, and try to get them to go down to the oaf's hut. I can take the second vial with me as well for another hour if necessary."

Slamming her book shut, Hermione rose to her feet, "Well what are we waiting for, let's go find the others!"

* * *

"We know that Weasley has detention with Professor Snape until dinner," Pansy sat, as they sat around in their favorite armchairs by the fireplace. "So we just need to make sure we intercept him."

"And we need to keep him somewhere where no one will stumble across him," Blaise added, "since it's possible that Draco will be pretending to be Weasley for longer than an hour."

"Yes," Hermione agreed, "so let's head over now in case Weasley gets out earlier."

* * *

"This better work," Draco/Ron muttered, as he headed toward the Gryffindor common room. As he rounded the corner near the Fat Lady, Potter and Longbottom came sprinting by. They skidded to a stop when they saw their 'friend.'

"Ron," Potter gasped, "we've got to go see Hagrid, now."

"But why," Longbottom said, "I don't understand."

Rolling his eyes, Potter grabbed them and hurried them along.

"Don't you think it's a bit _odd_," Harry said, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have one? How many wizards walk around with dragon eggs in their pockets?"

Draco smirked, remembering how he had gotten them in trouble for that little incident.

"Why didn't I see this before?" Potter muttered, quickening his pace. Draco couldn't believe his luck, he didn't even have to do anything and they were already practically sprinting to the oaf's hut.

"What are you talking about?" Draco said, trying to get more information, but Potter didn't answer, and began to run across the grounds. The oaf was sitting outside of his 'house,' and smiled when he saw them coming.

"Hullo, finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," Longbottom said, and Draco couldn't hold back a sneer at the boy—didn't he realize that Potter obviously needed to talk to the oaf about something important?

"No, we're in a hurry. I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"I dunno," Hagrid replied, nonchalantly, "he didn't take his cloak off."

"What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"It mighta come up," he replied, narrowing his eyes as he tried to remember, "Yeah, he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here. He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after.. so I told him, I said after Fluffy, a dragon is going to be no problem."

"And did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Potter asked.

"Well, of course he was interested in Fluffy! How many people come across three-headed dogs, even if you're in the trade. So I told him, I said just play him a bit of music and he fells straight ter sleep—" Hagrid cut off, his eyes widening, "I shouldn'ta told yeh that. Hey, where're yeh going?"

Draco trailed after Potter and Longbottom, digesting what he had just heard. He now knew the information that he needed, the problem was he didn't know how to get away from the Gryffindors and back to his friends.

"We've got to get to Dumbledore," Harry told them, "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak."

_Snape_? Draco thought to himself, _where did they get that information_?

"Where's Dumbledore's office?" Longbottom asked, glancing around. Suddenly, McGonagall came walking around the corner.

"What are you three doing inside?"

"We need to see Professor Dumbledore."

"Professor Dumbledore?" McGonagall repeated, looking suspicious, "Why?"

"Well, it's sort of a secret," he told her.

"Professor Dumbledore isn't here. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London."

"He's gone?" Harry asked, anxiously, "Now? But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic?"

"Look, Professor. It's about the Sorcerer's Stone."

"How do you—?"

"We think that someone is going to steal it."

"I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it."

"But Professor—"

She turned and walked away.

"It's tonight."

"But how are we—" Longbottom cut off, and when Draco and Potter turned around they saw Professor Snape.

"You ought to be more careful—hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something."

The Gryffindors and Draco turned to walk away, and Snape called them back,

"Be warned, Potter—any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good evening." He strode off.

"Look, one of us has got to keep an eye on Snape. Ron, can you do that?"

Draco nodded, looking for an opportunity to get back to his friends.

"We're going to have to go down there, aren't we?" Longbottom asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes," Potter replied, "tonight."

"You're mad!" Draco replied, inwardly he was cursing the boy-who-lived, always having to be the hero.

"Don't you understand? If Snape gets ahold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back!"

Draco tried to hide his shock when Potter said the Dark Lord's name, instead of calling him you-know-who, like everyone else did.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," Potter told them.

"But will it cover all three of us?" Longbottom asked.

"All—all three of us?"

"Oh come off it, do you really think we'd let you go alone?" Longbottom said.

"Right," Potter nodded, "now Ron, go follow Snape. We'll meet you back at the common room."

Draco nodded, and waited for the two morons to disappear from sight. Shaking his head, he sprinted back to the Slytherin Common Room, and as he ran he slowly transformed back into himself.

* * *

Hermione, Pansy and Blaise stared at Draco in shock as he relayed everything that had just occurred.

"Well, what.. what are we going to do?" Blaise asked.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Hermione replied, glancing around at her friends, "we have to go down the trapdoor before them, and get the stone for ourselves."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Blaise deadpanned, "this tops the list, this is by far the most dangerous and stupid thing we've done all year…"

He paused dramatically, "Let's go!"

The friends rose, unsure what they needed because they had no idea what they were walking—or rather falling, into.

"Well, let's make sure Weasley gets back to his friends before they go, he's bound to mess something up for them."

* * *

After Pansy wiped Weasley's mind with a complicated memory spell, that had been perfected by the Parkinson family themselves, the friends practically ran to the third floor. Once they approached the forbidden corridor, they slowed. Quickly they made sure no one was around to watch, the friends made their way toward the room. After unlocking the door, the four friends paused, and Hermione raised her wand,

"_Ludere musica_," she whispered, and a classical tune began to play from the tip of her wand. They pushed open the door, and Hermione stepped in first, staring up at the Fluffy. The three heads growled, but the beast didn't move toward her, aggressively. Instead, he took a few steps backward, revealing the trapdoor, and laid down. His eyes began to slowly close and before they knew it, the beast was snoring. The Slytherins walked completely into the room, and shut the door. They heard the click of it locking behind them, as they inched over to the trapdoor. Draco pulled it open, and they looked down. All that could be seen was darkness.

Hermione took a deep breath, looked around at her friends, and jumped.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Anything you recognize is from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I wanted to have pretty much the exact scene with Hagrid, so there you go. Not mine. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Thank you to **Dark Goddess109**, **Hermione Voldemort Riddle**, **Beautiful-Liar13, blackangel150, LilFayexxx, MoonlitDarkness9, tacker23 and angel897 for reviewing!**


	10. Going Forward

Chapter 10

With a groan, Hermione landed safely on a relatively soft surface.

"Hermione?" Pansy called, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" She shouted back up, "it's safe!" As she spoke, and as she heard the rest of her friends jumping, the 'soft surface' began to tangle and wrap around her; Hermione jumped in surprise, and began to struggle against what she now realized was a plant.

"It's Devil's Snare," Blaise told her, and she looked up in surprise. She hadn't even heard her friends' landings, "just relax and we should fall straight through to.. where ever that leads."

Hermione nodded, realizing her mistake. Devil's Snare would eventually choke a person to death if they continued to struggle against it. She watched her friends all relax, and felt a jolt as she began to sink through the plant. With a thud, she landed on the ground.

"Ow," she muttered, and saw her friends fall through. Getting up, Hermione brushed the dust from the stone floor off of her, and waited for her friends to get up.

"So far, so good," Draco muttered, as they started down a hallway.

"What's that noise?" Pansy asked, and the friends all quieted to try and hear the sound. It was a bit like fluttering, similar to birds, but not quite as loud.

"It sounds like.. wings." Draco said, and they rounded the corner.

And it was wings. When the Slytherins saw what was in the room, they all smiled. Hundreds of keys with wings were flying throughout the room, and in the middle sat a broomstick. Blaise continued to walk over to the door, and examined the lock.

"It's going to be an older looking key, probably silver." Blaise said. The three friends looked expectantly at Draco.

"What are you all staring at?" Draco said, with a smirk.

"Don't be a prat, mate, you know you're the best flier here." Blaise retorted, grinning.

"Just get on the broom and get the key, Draco," Pansy said impatiently, "We don't have time for games."

Still smirking, Draco mounted the broom. Right when he took off, the keys dove at him. Pansy gasped, and quickly pointed her wand at the crowd of keys.

"_Impedimenta_!" She called, and immediately the keys slowed.

"Do you see it, Draco?" Hermione asked, following the boy with her eyes. Just as she spoke, she saw him reach out and grab for a key. He was still smirking when he reached the ground.

"Well that was easy," he replied, and the friends hurried to the door to unlock it before the slow moving keys, that were still chasing Draco, reached them.

As Hermione entered the next room, she could only tell that it was very large, and although it was dark she saw shadows of what looked like large statues.

"What is this?" She asked, turning to glance at her friends behind her. They only shook their heads in confusion, having no idea what they were walking into either. When she had walked right up to one of the statues, she whispered, "Lumos," to light up the mysterious statue.

"It looks like.. a knight," Blaise said, from behind her.

"Wait, I know what this is," Draco said, examining another statue, "it's a chessboard."

At his words, the entire room lit up, revealing the giant chessboard in front of them. Hermione led the way to the center of the board, to get a better view and figure out what they were dealing with. There were four empty spaces on their side, which didn't seem like a good sign to Hermione. Behind the opposing chessmen was the door, but she knew it wasn't going to be as easy as walking to that door and moving on to whatever was behind it.

"We must have to play our way across the board," Hermione said. She looked at her friends; both Draco and Blaise were staring at Pansy in expectance.

"I guess this one's on me, isn't it?" Pansy said, with a smirk, "Draco, take the spot of the knight, Blaise you take the other knight. Hermione, go to the bishop's place."

They followed her orders with no comments, as Pansy took the spot of a rook. She looked expectantly at the other side, since white went first. Hermione knew next to nothing about chess, and so she watched an opposing piece move to another spot on the board, wondering what Pansy's move would be.

"Pawn to E4," she called out, and one of their pieces moved forward two spots. Hermione hoped that this game would go quickly, no one knew how far the 'Golden Trio' was behind them. However, she also knew Pansy, and knew that she could finish a game in five moves in the right circumstances. She saw another white piece move, and wished she knew more about chess.

"Bishop to C4," Pansy said, "that's you, Hermione. Move to that square right there." Hermione followed Pansy's command, moving cautiously to the spot she ordered. Immediately white moved a piece, very close to Hermione.

Pansy must have noticed Hermione tense because she quickly said,

"Don't worry, Hermione. It'll be fine. Queen to F3."

Their queen moved to the place Pansy specified, and white moved again, seemingly closing in on Hermione. She was fighting her panic very hard, knowing that Pansy had everything under control.

"Bishop to F7. Right there, Hermione." Pansy said, pointing to a spot on the white pieces' side. Hermione even more cautiously walked toward the square, wondering when this game was going to be over. She didn't even know if they were winning. _I really need to read up on chess_, she told herself.

"Checkmate." Pansy called, and Hermione jumped back in panic as the king's sword dropped to the crowd with a loud clatter.

"That's it?" Blaise asked, as they all walked over to Hermione.

Pansy shrugged with a smile,

"What can I say? I'm good."

The friends walked to the next door, and the first thing Hermione noticed when it swung open was the disgusting smell. Hermione walked in first, looking around. It was seemingly an empty room, but that smell had to be coming from somewhere.

"Hermione! Troll!" Draco yelled. Hermione turned to the one corner of the room she hadn't looked at, and jumped aside just before a huge troll brought its fist down to where she had been standing.

"Shit!" She muttered, grasping for her wand while backing away from the creature. Before she could grab her wand, its fist came down again and she leapt out of the way again.

"_Somnus_," Blaise yelled, and immediately the troll's eyes began to close as it fell asleep.

Finally grasping at her wand, she pointed at the troll, who in its sleeping state began to fall, directly in front of her.

"_Tardus cado_," she whispered, before rolling out of the way as the troll fell to the ground.

Hermione let out a breath, and took the hand Draco offered her. He pulled her to her feet.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Fine, fine. Damn thing just caught me off guard," she replied with an anxious laugh. The friends hurried along to the next door, and Hermione wondered what could possibly be next.

All that was in the next room was a table, with seven vials of different shape and color on it. As they stepped into the room, fire sprang up, but not normal fire—it was purple. At the same moment, fire appeared at the threshold leading what came next—and this fire was black.

"I don't like this," Pansy murmured, as she stepped over to the table.

"We'll be fine," Draco assured, "this must be Snape's. This will be easy." Hermione didn't call Draco out on the unsure tone in his voice. They all knew that Snape was smart, and this was bound to be difficult.

"Here, there's a parchment," Pansy said, reaching out to pick up a rolled up bit of parchment, "I'll read it:

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

Hermione glanced around at her friends, seeing their eyes widen and jaws drop. She felt like smiling herself, having a particular fondness for riddles.

"Why are you smiling?" Blaise asked her, dumbfounded.

"This isn't magic—it's logic. A puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic. They'd be stuck in here forever."

"And we won't?" Draco asked.

"Of course not," Hermione replied, shaking her head, "just give me a minute and I'll figure it out."

She walked up to the bottles, repeating the clues in her head.

"Okay," she mumbled to herself, "if poison is always at nettle wine's left side, and there are two wines.." _Well, there's three poisons, so one of them isn't to the left of a wine_, she thought.

"There has to be some kind of order between the wine and the poison," she said, "so this must be a poison, here."

Hermione continued to mutter to herself, while her friends stood around watching. Only moments later she had come up with the solution,

"It's the smallest bottle. That will get us through the black fire—to the stone."

Draco reached around her and picked up the bottle.

"There's only enough for one of us," he said. She glanced at him, biting her lip.

"I wonder if a duplicating spell will work on it, to make more?" Pansy asked, stepping forward to stand next to Draco and Hermione.

"We better hope it does," Blaise said, also walking forward to join the group, "because it's all or nothing. There's no way only one of us is continuing alone."

The friends nodded in agreement, but Hermione knew that if it couldn't be duplicated, she was going to take the drink and move on alone. Someone had to.

Draco put the bottle back on the table and pointed his wand at the smallest bottle,

"_Exemplar_," he muttered. The friends watched in disappointment as nothing happened.

"I don't know why we thought that would work," Pansy said, "Snape's smarter than that."

"What are we going to do?" Blaise asked, "Are we stuck here?"

"No," Hermione said, pointing at a bottle further down the line, "that one will take us back. It's a big bottle, there's enough for all of us. We'll go back to the room with the keys and take turns flying back up the trapdoor."

Draco nodded in assent, and picked up the bottle. As he took a gulp, Hermione grabbed the small bottle from the table, hiding it in her hand and took off the lid as secretly as she could manage, as she watched the rest of her friends drink.

"Wow, it feels like ice," Blaise said, passing it to Pansy, who took a gulp.

Before Pansy could pass the bottle on to her, Hermione gulped down the small potion.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled, "What are you doing?"

"Going forward," she replied, stepping toward the black fire. "Someone has to, and now you three have to go back. You have to."

"Hermione—" Blaise began, sounding worried.

"Look, she's left us no choice," Pansy said, sounding resigned. "We took the potion to go back, if we don't go back we have no way forward. We'll be stuck here."

She stepped forward and hugged Hermione, "Be careful."

She nodded, and watched her three friends walk through the purple fire back the way they came. Taking a deep breath, she turned and walked through the black fire, to face whatever came next—alone.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry it's been a few weeks-finals and such. Now that I'm home for break I'm going to finish up both stories. I need review on this (or PMs) telling me if you want me to continue this and make it into a series. Enjoy the chapter! Happy holidays!

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is from the book, property of J.K. Rowling. I wanted the exact riddle, and such.

Thanks to **LilFayexxx**, **Ness171990**, **MoonlitDarkness9**, **artyholly01**, **Hermione Voldemort Riddle **and **tacker23** for reviewing!


	11. The Stone

Chapter 11

As Hermione descended a flight of stairs, she saw a strange mirror in the middle of an otherwise empty room. Slowly, she approached the mirror, unsure of what to expect. She looked into her reflection, and gasped. Instead of seeing her likeness, she saw the Dark Lord standing beside her, as she handed him the stone.

"What is this?" she asked herself, and she examined the inscription on the mirror. It read: 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.' _What could that mean_? She wondered. And why was this mirror in the room that should be holding the stone? Before she furthered explored the room, she looked again at the inscription on the mirror, trying to decipher what it meant. Rearranging the words as they were meant nothing—that much Hermione could tell just by looking at it. However backwards she could tell that the first word was 'desire' spelled backwards and because of that logic she figured the whole inscription must be backwards. 'I show not your face but your heart's desire.'

"So the mirror shows the person's deepest desires," she said, speaking to herself. _But that doesn't answer the more important question._ _Where's the stone_?

The room she was in wasn't large, so it only took her a few moments to search the rest of the room. Apart from the mirror, there was a cupboard in the corner of the room, which was empty. _This cannot be happening; we didn't come all the way down here for nothing_.

Suddenly she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Cursing under her breath, she quickly cast a Disillusionment spell on herself, pulled open the cupboard and hid inside, keeping the door open just a crack, to see what was going on. _Who could it be? Potter? Or does Snape really have something to do with this_? Just as she completed that thought, a figure came into view. _Quirrell? Professor Quirrell? Potter seemed so sure that Snape had something to do with this. _She watched as her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor approached the mirror. He seemed pleased at what he saw, probably himself handing the Stone over to the Dark Lord. Briefly she wondered if she should announce herself, after all, they were on the same side here. They both wanted the Stone for the same reason. However she didn't really know much about Professor Quirrell, and didn't know how he would react to her appearance. Deciding to wait a little longer, she saw Quirrell turn around at the sound of more footsteps. _Now this, this must be Potter_.

Sure enough, Potter walked down the stairs and into the room.

"You!" He gasped.

"Me," Quirrell replied, "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."

"But I thought—Snape—"

"Severus?" Professor Quirrell paused to laugh, "Yes, he does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"

"But Snape tried to kill me!"

Hermione assumed that Potter was referring to the Quidditch game, where someone had been jinxing his broom.

"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. I should have managed it too, even with Snape muttering his little countercurse."

"Snape was trying to.. save me?"

That was an interesting development to Hermione. Why would Professor Snape be trying save Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the reason that the Dark Lord was no longer around?

"Of course. Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really.. he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular, and what a waste of time, too, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."

Professor Quirrell paused again, this time snapping, and ropes appeared and tightened around Potter. _Is this what the Dark Lord would want_? Hermione wondered, _wouldn't he want to kill him himself?_ She knew she couldn't show herself now though, Professor Quirrell likely wouldn't believe her story, and might kill her as well.

"You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"So, you let the troll in?"

"Certainly. Unfortunately, Snape wasn't fooled. While everyone else was running around looking for the troll, he came to the third floor to head me off. And not only did my troll fail to beat you to death—I have meddling Slytherins to blame for that, but that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly."

Hermione couldn't help but smirk at being mentioned in Quirrell's rant. However she couldn't help but think again that he was making a mistake by killing Potter.

"Now, wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror. It's the key to finding the stone.. Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this.. but he's in London, I'll be far away by the time he gets back."

"I saw you and Snape in the forest—" Potter blurted out. Hermione raised an eyebrow, wondering what else she didn't know.

"Yes, he was on to me by that time, trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me, as though he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side…" As he spoke, he circled the mirror, examining both the back and front before coming back to stand by Potter.

"I see the Stone.. I'm presenting it to my master, but where is it?"

Hermione saw Potter struggling with the ropes confining him.

"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much."

"Oh, he does. Heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead."

"But I heard you a few das ago, sobbing—I thought Snape was threatening you."

Hermione listened in interest.

"Sometimes, I find it hard to follow my Master's instructions—he is a great wizard and I am weak—."

"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Harry gasped, and Hermione almost did as well. The Dark Lord had been in the castle? That seemed impossible.

"He is with me wherever I go. I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it. Since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down several times. He has had to be very hard on me. He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me, decided that he would have to keep a closer watch on me.

"I don't understand.. is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"

While Quirrell stared at the mirror, Hermione noticed Potter trying to move slightly, but then fell over.

"What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!"

Hermione started at the sound of a voice answering him.

"Use the boy."

Quirrell turned to Potter, "Yes, Potter, come here." He clapped, and the ropes that binded Potter fell off. Potter got to his feet.

"Come here, look in the mirror. Tell me what you see."

Hermione watched as the two stood by the mirror, and wondered what Potter saw.

"Well? What do you see?"

"I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore.. I've won the house cup for Gryffindor."

"He lies." The voice said.

"Tell the truth! What do you see?"

"Let me speak to him.. face-to face.."

"Master, you are not strong enough." Quirrell replied.

"I have strength enough.. for this."

Hermione could not believe what happened next. Quirrell began to unravel his turban, and because he was facing Harry and his back was to Hermione, she saw first what Potter was going to see.

And it was a face—on the back of Quirrell's head. It was white with red eyes and slits for nostrils. It was the Dark Lord.

Quirrell turned around so that the face faced Potter.

She immediately saw the fear in his eyes, and couldn't blame him. It wasn't like he stood a chance against the Dark Lord.

"Harry Potter.. See what I have become? See what I must do to survive? Live off another.. a mere parasite. Unicorn blood has strengthened me, you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest.. and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own.. Now.. why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"

_How did he get it_? _How!?_

"Don't be a fool," the Dark Lord snarled, "Better save your own life and join me.. or you'll meet the same end as your parents. They died begging me for mercy."

"LIAR!" Potter shouted.

"How touching, I always value bravery. Yes, boy, your parents were brave. I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight.. but your mother needn't have died.. she was trying to protect you.. Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."

"NEVER!" Potter ran toward the stairs, and Quirrell snapped his fingers and fire appeared, blocking him.

"STOP HIM!" The Dark Lord screamed.

Hermione watched as Quirrell grabbed Potter's wrist, pulling him backwards. What happened next Hermione couldn't explain. Quirrell yelled in pain, and released his wrist.

"SEIZE HIM!"

Quirrell lunged at Potter again, tackling him and putting both hands around his neck. But the Professor howled in pain.

"Master, I cannot hold him, my hands—my hands."

"Then kill him, fool, and be done." The Dark Lord screeched.

Quirrell raised his wand, but Potter reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face. Hermione watched as his face began to blister. _What magic is this_? She wondered. Quirrell jumped up, but Potter did as well, grabbing him by the arm, and it blistered too.

Potter was in pain too though, Hermione could tell. She wondered how long this could possibly go on. Suddenly Quirrell stumbled backward slightly, and literally turned to dust. At the same time, Potter fell to the ground unconscious. _Or maybe dead_, she thought to herself. _But this is my chance, if the Dark Lord said that the Stone is in his pocket_. Just as she grabbed the door to shove it open, she heard a pop from Apparition. Hermione cursed silently, _what now_? As she peeked through the crack, she saw that this time, it was Dumbledore. _He's back_, she thought, and she backed further into the cupboard. Dumbledore couldn't find her here.

She saw him look around the room, his eyes settling on the closet for a moment, before looking back at Potter. Dumbledore leaned down to make sure he was okay, but stood back up almost immediately. Obviously Potter was fine, because the old man seemed to be in no rush.

"You might as well come out, Miss Granger."

Hermione's heart all but stopped when she heard her name. _How could he—_but she stopped herself. It was Dumbledore. He always seemed way too knowledgeable. Taking a deep breath, Hermione pushed open the cupboard door and stepped out. She walked slowly toward him, unsure what to expect.

"How did you know I was here?"

Dumbledore didn't answer her question, but just stared at her. _I'm done for_, _I'm going to be expelled. Imprisoned, maybe, for not helping Potter_. But she shook her head at the thought; _I can talk my way out of this_.

"I don't know why you are here, Miss Granger. I can only hope that it is not for the reasons that I think. But what I do know, is that I will be keeping a very close eye on you from now on." With a wave of his wand, he levitated Potter's unconscious body, "Now come with me. And don't let me regret giving you the benefit of the doubt."

"I won't, Headmaster." She lied. _How could he had so much blind faith in me_? _Idiot._ Deciding not to question her lack of punishment, she followed Dumbledore out of the room.

* * *

After having a long talk with Dumbledore in his office, mostly with him staring at her with his knowing eyes, as she told lie after lie about how she had learned her lesson, Hermione sprinted down to the dungeons. She could only imagine how worried her friends must be, and although she was disappointed in her failure to bring back the Stone, she knew that they would find another way to help the Dark Lord return to power.

As expected, her friends were seated anxiously in the otherwise empty common room, and jumped to her feet when she rushed in.

"Hermione!" Draco said, relieved, as her friends all approached her. Pansy wrapped her in a hug.

"Thank Merlin you're all right," she whispered.

"Tell us what happened," Blaise commanded, after having hugged her as well.

Hermione took a deep breath, preparing herself for a long night.

* * *

A few days later, Hermione found herself walking toward the Hospital Wing. She saw Dumbledore head up there only moments before, and was eager to eavesdrop on their conversation. She was desperate to know if Dumbledore told Potter that she had been down there, and she also hoped they would talk about what had happened to the Stone.

When she reached the door, she found it opened a crack, and put her ear to it to listen.

"..I feared I might be too late." She heard Dumbledore say, "the effort involved keeping Quirrell from the Stone nearly killed you. For one terrible moment, I was afraid it had. As for the Stone, it has been destroyed."

_No_, Hermione thought, _no_!

"Destroyed? But your friend—Nicolas Flamel.."

"Oh, you know about Nicolas? Well, we had a little chat, and agreed it was all for the best."

"But him and his wife..they'll die, won't they?"

"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die.

"To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all—the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."

"Sir? I've been thinking, even if the Stone's gone, Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who—"

"Call him Voldemort, Harry. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

"Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?"

"No, Harry, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share.. not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time - and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."

"Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me... things I want to know the truth about..."

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."

Hermione wondered if this conversation was going to amount to anything useful, and also hoped it didn't take too long. She didn't want to be caught eavesdropping, that would be very bad.

"Well... Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?"

"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day... put it from your mind for now, Harry. When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know."

"But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?"

This was something that Hermione was very curious to know as well. Over the past few days she had been researching in the library, trying to figure out what kind of magic could have done that to Professor Quirrell. Potter had just verified what she had already assumed, that he had done nothing consciously to do it. She knew that he wasn't strong enough for that kind of magic.

Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."

"And there's something else..."

"Fire away."

"Quirrell said Snape -"

"Professor Snape, Harry."

"Yes, him - Quirrell said he hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?"

"Well, they did rather detest each other. Not unlike yourself and Mr. Malfoy. And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive."

Hermione smirked at the mention of her friend, and wondered if this would be the time that he would tell Potter about her being there.

"What?"

"He saved his life."

Hermione widened her eyes. How had Potter's father saved her head of house?

"What?"

"Funny, the way people's minds work, isn't it? Professor Snape couldn't bear being in your father's debt. I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace..."

And sir, there's one more thing..."

"Just the one?"

_Merlin, how many questions can he have? I need to get out of here_.

"How did I get the Stone out of the mirror?"

"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes... Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!"

Hermione sensed then that the conversation had stopped being serious, and that indeed Dumbledore wasn't going to tell Potter about her presence in the room where he had almost been killed. And even better, now she knew how Potter had gotten the Stone. Of course, it didn't work out well for her, but at least she knew how it had happened. Quietly, she stepped away, heading back to the dormitory to finish packing.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I have a few things to say about this chapter right away, because I'm kind of expecting some sass. Obviously I do not own Harry Potter, at all. I'm getting no profit from this, this is just for fun, etc. However, I did get a good chunk of this chapter from the first book, of course with Hermione's thoughts stuck all in between. This is important. I need to make sure that this is consistent if I'm continuing the series, and that Hermione knows everything she would know from being there with Quirrell and Harry, and eavesdropping in the Hospital Wing. Yes, I kind of feel that that's a little cop-outty as far as this chapter is concerned. After all, you're here to read new stories, not excerpts from a book you've probably already read. So I do apologize if that annoys/upsets/angers anyone reading. But I thought it would be easier than rewording everything Quirrell/Harry/Voldemort said in slightly different ways so that it's different than the book but Hermione still knows everything she needs to know. So that being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We've got the epilogue and that's it for the Sorcerer's Stone! Again, if you want me to continue writing, onto the second book and so on, let me know in a review. Also, let me know if you would want that to be a separate story, or to just continue it on this story. My personal vote would be creating a separate fan fic for each story, but gimme your opinions!

Moving on..

**lacy:** Thank you! I'm glad you like the story. I would love to know what tumblr you're talking about, and would have DM'ed you if you hadn't reviewed as a guest. Awkwarddd. :/ I hope you read this so I can see the tumblr!

Thanks to **MoonlitDarkness9**, **tayshi**, **that-moment-between-strangers**, a guest, **Bitterglass **and **blackangel150** for reviewing! Hope you enjoy the chapter!


	12. Hell of a Year

Epilogue

"It's been a crazy year," Hermione said, with a bittersweet sigh. She sat among her friends in the Great Hall, at the End-of-the-Year feast.

"That it has," Draco agreed, looking around at the rest of his friends, "just imagine next year."

Hermione smiled in response, and then looked up at the professors. They were all chatting amongst themselves; Snape looked especially pleased to see the Slytherin banners lining the Hall. Somehow they had managed to win the House Cup, even though the four friends had lost a fair number of points throughout the year, it seems that the "Golden Trio" lost far more. Slytherins were better at getting away with mischief, after all.

"Are you going to tell your parents what happened down there, Hermione? With Potter and Quirrell?" Pansy asked.

"I think I should," she replied, "I think we should all tell our parents what happened. They need to know that the Dark Lord failed in returning this way, and we need to figure out another way for Him to come back."

Her friends nodded in agreement, just as Dumbledore stood to begin his speech,

"Another year gone! And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were—you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts.

"Now as I understand it, the house cup needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points, in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

Hermione just smiled as her House began to cheer.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin. However, recent events must be taken into account, and I have a few last minute points to award."

"You've got to be kidding me," Blaise muttered.

"First—to Mr. Ronald Weasley," Dumbledore began. Hermione looked at the Gryffindor table to see Weasley's face turn a dark red. "for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The Gryffindors began to cheer, and Hermione rolled her eyes and looked toward Pansy,

"You played a much better game, Pans, I'm sure."

Pansy grinned.

"I could beat that Weasel anytime," she agreed.

"Second, to Mr. Neville Longbottom, for fast thinking while ensnared in a perilous situation, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Hermione didn't even look at the Gryffindor table this time, knowing exactly how this was going to go. Dumbledore was going to give them enough to win the House Cup. _Favoritism_, she thought, _ridiculous_.

"Longbottom must have known what to do against the Devil's Snare," Draco said, "_ensnared_ in a perilous situation? Blaise probably knew what it was way before Longbottom did."

"I bet they were practically suffocated by the time Longbottom figured it out." Blaise agreed with a grin.

"Third—to Mr. Harry Potter. For pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house, sixty points. Which means," Dumbledore yelled, for now everyone who could do fast math in their head knew that Gryffindor now had 482 points, beating Slytherin. Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were cheering, "we need a little change of decoration." With a clap of his hands, the Slytherin banners vanished and Gryffindor banners took their place. Hermione looked back at Snape, seeing him shake Professor McGonagall's hand with a forced smile. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back toward the table, seeing food appear. The four friends began to eat, talking about their first year. House cup or no house cup, they really did have a hell of a year.

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**Author's Note: **And it's over! It only took me what.. since July 23rd, 2008? And in case it is need to say, Dumbledore's speech is not mine, it's JK Rowling's. Anyways thank you to everyone who read. BUT WAIT, DON'T LEAVE YET.

**If you want me to continue this into a series, LEAVE ME A REVIEW or a PM. I know you're probably like me, you see people leaving Author's Notes saying to review and you're thinking.. "oh someone else will review and tell her to continue it, I don't have to" but y'all don't know that! If you want this to continue, please let me know. I'm in school and very busy and I want to continue if people want me to! So drop me a line, will you?**

Thanks to everyone who's been reading since '08 (if any of them are still around) or those who just found this story! I love all y'all, and hope you all enjoy this very short epilogue type chapter.

Thank you to **Known Anonymous, Emzy2k11 and a guest for reviewing!  
**


	13. Author's Rambling Note

**Author's Note**

I'm sorry to post this; I know that these are the worst. & I will delete it probably in a week or so because I know it's going to annoy others as well as myself! BUT, after a huge amount of reviews saying that they want me to continue this into a series, I needed to post this to say that I'M DOING IT. I saw that a lot of people followed the story and not me, which is why I'm posting this: I will be continuing, but each one is going to be its own separate fic, as opposed to just making it all onto this one. Because of that I'm posting so that anyone who is following this fic but not me and wants to know when the next one is posted—you need to follow meee, because this story isn't continuing on this fic. Did I repeat that enough? I'm super repetitive sometimes. Two more things to say,

1) Does anyone have any title ideas for the next one? I didn't know if I should have a different title for each one or just be kind of boring and make it Life of a Pureblood Year 2, etc. Leave reviews on what you think?

2) Don't hate me for shamelessly self-promoting, but if you haven't checked out my other story A Difficult Assignment, I just uploaded the last chapter last night! It is a Lucius/Hermione story and it isn't getting enough loving! So check that out if you want!

I'm already halfway through the first chapter for year 2, so expect that up within the next week or so!

Love you all, literally. Keep reading and I'll keep writing. :)


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